Sodhi hails ‘rare leg-spin talent’ Rishad as Mushtaq focuses on mental growth

“It’s probably a type of bowler you haven’t seen from this part of the world for a really long time.”

That sentiment from New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi neatly framed the growing conversation around Bangladesh’s young leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, as both he and Bangladesh spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed reflected on the bowler’s development during a day of back-to-back press conferences in Chattogram today.

While Sodhi was full of admiration for Rishad’s skill set and rare bowling profile, Mushtaq took a more developmental tone, saying the youngster’s omission from the third ODI was part of a deliberate process aimed at strengthening his mentality for international cricket.

Talking ahead of the T20I series starting from Monday, Mushtaq was asked how Rishad was handling being left out of the playing XI.

“This is the part of his [Rishad’s] progress. Sometimes when you sit out, what is your mindset? This is our duty as a coach to make his mind strong. International cricket is all about having a great temperament. It's a mind game rather than anything else,” Mushtaq explained.

“Because skill can bring you here, but here you have to survive with the mindset. You got to have a strong mindset to stay at international level,” he added.

The former Pakistan spinner, however, was quick to clarify that Rishad’s exclusion should not be seen as a reflection of poor performance, pointing out that the leg-spinner had impressed in the earlier matches.

“I think this is our duty as my duty as a coach with Rishad, so mentally making him tougher. He was not dropped basically. He bowled very well in last ODI, but we just want to make the spin attack stronger. So we all the spinners have some games,” he said.

“So yes, this is our duty to make sure when people are not playing, they mentally should be very positive,” Mushtaq added.

Meanwhile, Sodhi  -- who is set to play his first T20I in Bangladesh despite featuring in 140 matches in the format -- spoke at length about Rishad’s potential, particularly highlighting his performances in franchise cricket abroad.

“I think you know, the fact that he was able to go to Australia and bowl so well in the Big Bash shows that he's a really versatile spin bowler,” Sodhi said.

“Sometimes when you see you know, Asian leg-spinners, they can often be quite low and skiddy and you know, flat and that sort of thing. But he's quite traditional, you know, he gets up and over the ball and gets a lot of bounce. And you know, it's probably a type of bowler that you haven't seen from this part of the world for a really long time,” he added.

Sodhi also revealed that he has maintained a friendly connection with Rishad through occasional messages and expressed hope that the Bangladesh spinner will get opportunities at the highest level, including Test cricket.

“I think he's such an exciting prospect and puts a lot of revs on the ball. And yeah, I sometimes message him every now and then on Instagram and that sort of thing,” Sodhi said.

“So it's quite cool to have that connection over here and yeah, I think he's got a great future ahead and hopefully he can even crack into some Test cricket. You know, it'd be really cool to see leg-spin playing Test cricket again, which you know, is quite rare these days, isn't it? So, but he's certainly got the skills to do that,” he added.