Mushtaq arrives in Mirpur 'to make a difference'

Bangladesh's newly-appointed spin-bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed arrived at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium along with the rest of the coaching panel, including head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, who joined the Tigers camp following the Eid holidays. 

Mushtaq was greeted by a few of the national team cricketers and the coaching staff before he got into Bangladesh's practice kit and spoke about his arrival to the country in a video posted by Bangladesh Cricket Board's official Facebook page. 

"The welcome has been great right from the airport. It is always great to visit Bangladesh because the locals are big fans of Pakistani cricketers and Pakistani people. We enjoy coming here and playing cricket here because of the beautiful hospitality you get. We like the food and everything here. 

Photo: Firoz Ahmed

"My last visit to Bangladesh as a player was in 1998. It is very challenging here in terms of the skillset required from a player's point of view as well as a coach's. It is totally different to other parts of the world. You have to adapt and be proactive to understand your cricket here. 

"You have to believe as a coach and I am here to make a difference. InShaAllah, I will make a difference in the spin department with my experience over the years. I believe you can only coach teams which are coachable. I believe the team is talented and can challenge any side," Mushtaq said in the video on Tuesday. 

Photo: Firoz Ahmed

A leg-spinner who had mastered the googly himself during his playing days, Mushtaq was asked whether he thought it would be possible to find mystery spinners and channel them into the national fold in Bangladesh. 

"Why not?" he replied.

"In Asia, you always see that a leg-spinner, a mystery spinner, or a chinaman is bowling in the nets in club cricket and in net practices. You've got to go to local coaches and hopefully, that is where my experience will come into play. We can communicate [with the local coaches] and meet lots of club coaches and first-class coaches and then we can figure out how to find good leg-spinners and chinamans because, in white-ball cricket, you need to have spinners who can get you wickets in the middle overs. It's very important to look for mystery spinners," he said.

Mushtaq played 52 Tests and 144 ODIs for Pakistan. In Tests, he took 185 wickets and has 165 scalps to his name in ODIs. 

The 53-year-old served as the spin-bowling coach of England from 2008 to 2014 before joining the Pakistan cricket team as a bowling consultant. Following the end of that tenure in 2016, he worked with the West Indies team in 2018 and then was roped back in by Pakistan in 2020.