Bangladesh ‘working on’ finding leg spinners for future

Bangladesh will be facing Afghanistan tomorrow at Southampton with the prospect of facing one of the best leg spinners in the world in Rashid Khan. Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes lamented the lack of leg spinners in Bangladesh but at the same time signaled that there is hope for upcoming leg spinners in the country.

"Well, it would be nice to have brought a left-hand spinner, off spinner, and a leg-spinner to the World Cup, but if that's not possible, then let's go with our best spinners," he said.

The head coach had a lot of respect for Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan. "I think the word is respect in Rashid Khan. He's a wonderful bowler. I know he went for plenty of runs against Morgan against England, but that was just one of those days for him. Generally, he's very, very aggressive and tight at the same time, so a quality bowler," he reiterated.

He said that Bangladesh are working on finding a leg spinning option in the future. "At the moment, there's a lack of leg spinners in Bangladesh. It's something we're working on. It's something we're working on to get right. I'm sure we will do. As I've said many times, to anybody who's a leg spinner, there's not many around, so you can shine very, very quickly if you're any good."

There is a Shane Warne stand in The Ageas Bowl and Rhodes was asked whether leg spinners doing well here was an advantage for Afghanistan. The Englishman replied wittingly: "But Shane Warne obviously made his name away from Hampshire. He played here and did well for the county, but Shane Warne is known really for his deeds in Australia, and certainly the ball turned a little bit more in Sydney and places like that than it does here at the Rose Bowl.

So, yeah, if we had a good leg spinner, he'd be here, and we're working on that."