The sorry tale of a Bangladeshi leggie

Jubair Hossain Likhon was quick to catch attention when he became Bangladesh's first specialist leg-spinner to play a Test in October 2014. But despite initially impressive performances, he disappeared from the scene almost as swiftly as he arrived. The Daily Star's Sabbir Hossain caught up with the leg-spinner, who opened up and discussed various issues. The excerpts are below:

The Daily Star (DS): Talk us through your journey as a leg-spinner?

Jubair Hossain Likhon (JHL): I started as an opening batter but failed to do well. Then I started leg-spin after advice from my older brother. He told me there was no quality leg-spinner in the country so there was a chance for me to play at the top level.

DS: When did you realise you could master leg-spin?

JHL: Leg-spinners seem to have some natural gifts and I have my fair share. I have strength in my shoulders. I can bowl the googly and generate power from my fingers. When I started, I was getting turn. Then I realised that if I tried, I might do better.

DS: You made your international debut in 2014 but haven't had a chance to play since 2015. How does that feel?

JHL: All the players want to play for the national team. When I played, life was different, fun. I thought that I would provide my services for a long time. But unfortunately, I could not. However, the main obstacle to my return to the national set-up is that I don't get many chances to play in the domestic league.

DS: Can you elaborate?

JHL: An out-of-favour player can only return to the national side through good performances in domestic cricket. But in my case, I do not get chances at the domestic level. Many have said I am not good at all and discarded me. These sorts of words only damage your confidence and demotivate you. The same thing happened with the rest of our leg-spinners. For a leg-spinner, one or two bad performances means the whole tournament is over for him. That is not case for others.

DS: Where does the problem lie?

JHL: When I was dropped from the national side, the BCB kept me in the A team and HP team. The board has always encouraged leg-spinners, but our domestic league officials don't have faith in us.

DS: What are your thoughts on the future of leg-spinners in the country?

JHL: If you look into it, you will find that leg-spinners have not been getting chances to play on a regular basis. We hardly have the opportunities to play two or three games a year. Of course, we need to practice a lot but there is no alternative to playing matches. If we only practice and barely play, it will have no impact. We won't be able to understand match situations. Some might say that I did not do well enough, but what about the rest of the leg-spinners in the country? Is there no one good enough to play regularly? Aminul Islam Biplob is in the national team now, but how many domestic matches has he played so far?