Bangladesh spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed outlined a clear technical and mental framework for leg-spinner Rishad Hossain on Saturday ahead of Bangladesh’s T20 series against New Zealand, which begins on Monday in Chattogram.
Bangladesh arrive at the series off a 2-1 ODI series victory, and Mushtaq used his pre-series press conference to address both Rishad’s development priorities and the decision to leave him out of the final ODI.
Mushtaq placed googly control and crease use at the centre of Rishad’s refinement. “Yes, different variation, using a crease, also for his googly. So his googly has to improve a bit more,” he said. The googly, a leg-spinner’s disguised delivery that turns the opposite way to the stock ball, becomes effective only when a bowler can land it consistently and vary the angle at which it arrives. Rishad uses it as an attacking option, but without precision over line and length, batters at international level identify the variation early and adjust.
Mushtaq expanded on the tactical specifics. “So the angle of the googly, which side you have to bowl to right-handers, close to the stumps, wide of the stumps,” he said. This addresses a placement issue rather than a mechanical one. Bowling the googly from different positions on the crease changes the entry angle into the batter, making the same delivery harder to read and more difficult to line up. Without that variation in angle, the delivery becomes a pattern rather than a threat.
The coach drew a clear distinction between taking wickets and controlling spells. “We want to work on his action so he can be a very perfect, he can bowl good overs rather than good balls,” Mushtaq said. In T20 cricket, a bowler who produces one unplayable delivery but leaks runs around it still damages his team. Bangladesh need Rishad to sustain pressure across a full four-over allocation, not just generate moments. A low block from the batting side, where batters simply wait for the bad ball rather than take risks, can expose a spinner who lacks that spell-long control.
