Raju looking for more spin

For the next one week, Bangladesh's High Performance Unit spinners will focus on turning the ball a lot more and learning variations under the former Indian slow left-arm bowler Venkatapathy Raju, who is in Dhaka to conduct a week-long bowling camp at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

Raju, who will be working along with the likes of Shohag Gazi, Saqlain Sajib and the young Mehedi Hasan Miraz, attended his first session with the Tigers yesterday.

“There is already skill available. We are just asking them to be a little more relaxed and work on getting more variations on the ball. If you see, most of the bowlers often forget to put in more revolutions on the ball.

“They just try to bowl quicker and quicker and then finish their four overs and go. We basically want them to have more variations without changing their actions,” said Raju, adding that the habit of putting in more revolutions will help Bangladesh's spinners extract more turn when they go abroad and play on wickets that don't suit spinners.     

He will also focus on working with the trajectory of the bowlers. “The trajectory has to be good as well. In T20 cricket, when you are bowling quicker, you tend to forget the loop. No matter what kind of a delivery you bowl, the flight is important,” he said.