Bangladesh Cricket
Mushtaq: I am here to make a difference
|| CF DESK ||
Bangladesh's newly appointed spin-bowling coach, Mushtaq Ahmed, made his arrival at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium as he joined head coach Chandika Hathurusingha’s coaching panel.
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.
Mushtaq was warmly welcomed by several members of the national team and coaching staff. Shortly after his arrival, he changed into Bangladesh's practice kit and shared his thoughts about coming to the country in a video posted on the 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,” Mushtaq said in the video on Tuesday.
"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. In Sha Allah, 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," he added.
Mushtaq played 52 Tests and 144 ODIs for Pakistan. In Tests, he took 185 wickets and has 165 scalps to his name in ODIs.