Bangladesh name Pakistan’s Mushtaq as new spin coach
DHAKA: Bangladesh named former Pakistan legspinner and World Cup winner Mushtaq Ahmed on Tuesday as the spin-bowling coach for the men’s national cricket team.
Mushtaq will join the side before a preparation camp for next month’s five-match Twenty20 international series against Zimbabwe and will work with the Bangladesh team until the end of the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States.
Bangladesh has been in the hunt for a spinbowling coach since Sri Lankan Rangana Herath let in November. Local coach Sohel Islam filled in during the recent series against Sri Lanka.
Mushtaq was spin coach with England from 2008-14, the West Indies in 2018-19 and Pakistan from 2020-2022.
He was also Pakistan’s bowling consultant between 2014 and 2016.
“It is a great honour for me to be a part of the Bangladesh cricket team as a spin-bowling coach,” 53-year-old Mushtaq said.
“I am looking forward to the role and want to pass my experience to the players because they are very coachable and I always believe that they are one of the most dangerous teams around.
“They can beat anyone because they have the capability, the resources and the talent. I will try to instil that belief into them,” he said.
Bangladesh will host Zimbabwe for five T20s from May 3-12 before travelling to the United States for a three-match series against the hosts and the T20 World Cup.
A leg break googly bowler, at his peak he was described as being one of the best three wristspinners in the world. In an international career that spanned from 1990 until 2003, he claimed 185 wickets in Test cricket and 161 in One Day Internationals. He was at his most prolific internationally between 1995 and 1998, but his most successful years were as a domestic player for Sussex in the early 2000s.
Mushtaq was part of the Pakistan team that won the 1992 Cricket World Cup, and five years later, he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. During his time with Sussex, he was the leading wicket-taker in the County Championship for five successive seasons, and helped the county win the competition in 2003, 2006, and 2007.
Ahmed made his first-class cricket debut in January 1987, at the age of 16. Playing for Multan, he claimed four wickets in the second innings of the match against Sukkur. He claimed his maiden recorded five-wicket haul in the format the following season, playing for the Punjab Chief Minister’s XI against the touring England cricket team. Shortly thereater, he competed in the 1988 Under-19 World Cup, where he was the joint leading wicket-taker, claiming 19 wickets at an average of 16.21.
Pakistan reached the final of the tournament, in which they lost to Australia by five wickets. Early the following season, Mushtaq took the first tenwicket haul of his career, collecting six wickets in the first innings and eight in the second innings of a match against Peshawar.
He continued to impress that season, and took 52 wickets at an average of 22.84.
He continued to appear for Pakistan Under-19s, and took 26 wickets in their series against India under-19s, more than double any other Pakistani player. His strong performances resulted in a call-up to the Pakistan national cricket team in March 1989.