Project Rishad: Rapidly-evolving leggie is Bangladesh's big challenge

Rishad Hossain has been a breath of fresh air for Bangladesh cricket. In a country where legspinners appeared to have gone extinct, the 22-year-old has emerged on the national scene with a promise of change.

Despite his relative lack of experience, Rishad's inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad wasn't surprising given the manner in which he hit the ground running after making his international debut just a year ago. However, there were legitimitate concerns around whether the leggie could handle the pressures of a big tournament like the World Cup.

But he dispersed those doubts in style with a match-winning performance against Sri Lanka that helped Bangladesh progress to the Super 8 phase. Rishad finished the tournament as the joint fifth-highest wicket taker - tied with Rashid Khan - with 14 wickets despite playing one game fewer than the Afghan legend.

This rise, incidentally, has been a function of major transformations including a complete change to his bowling style. From starting out as a quickish legspinner in the mould of Anil Kumble, one who relied more on his pace variations, Rishad turned into a more orthodox spinner who turned the ball a big way. As per broadcaster records, Rishad found 3.6 degrees of turn at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, the most by a spinner at the venue, further underscoring his evolution under Bangladesh's spin-bowling consultant Mushtaq Ahmed, who seemed to have made a big impact on the prodigy.

"I think first of all his mindset to understand his own bowling and to understand his action is very important because your technique has to be very good at the highest level. I think he understands to become a consistent and good leg spinner you need to have a good repeatable action," Mushtaq told Cricbuzz talking about Rishad's biggest strength.

"I started working on his action. He was a very smart kid and he understood what I was talking about and it was very important to understand that his action [needed to be] repeatable. He worked really hard and all credit goes to him. Also the trust level... like he started trusting me and I trusted him and we are very open to each other and so that is a very unique relationship to have.

"The overall moral of the story on why he did well in the World Cup... is that he understands his process is more important than his outcome and that's why he is working on his basics more and more now," the former Pakistan spinner said.

Speaking of the basics, Mushtaq revealed that the pair worked extensively on Rishad's wrist position and loading at the crease to help him become a bigger turner of the ball. "Spinners need to understand that you have to turn the ball. I know Mirpur pitches are very turning pitches and you don't have to turn the ball there as the ball will naturally spin there. But if you go and play on good pitches you have to turn the ball and understand the variations," he said.

"People noticed that his head was falling away [at the point of delivery]. We tried to make sure that his front-arm and back leg should be locking. You go up and over [like a pivot]. When you spend more time on the crease your alignment becomes better and so you can have more control on your body and I think those are the things which he is working on...

"Wrist position is very key and the grip is very key and all those little things when you get the act together you could obviously spin the ball well. Locking the front-arm, not opening up so much, using his lower back: the lower hip up and over is very important, back leg roll is very important and you can only do that when you spend more time on the front leg. So he was spending more time on the front leg and I am sure he needs to improve even more now, it's just five percent what you have seen so far," Mushtaq said.

The former Pakistan spinner, a star of the 1992 World Cup, also addressed the importance of having the right attacking mindset as a legspinner, something he has preached to his protege. "I think I [should] have the mindset that I am a match winner and if I go for few runs... so what? I have to get wickets and so that mindset has to be changed. And so I told him, 'don't worry about runs and if you go for sixes and [if] people hit you for straight sixes, I don't mind that as long as you start getting [batters] out in the slip.'

"You will see in this we had very attacking field placing for him. First ball as legspinner, you need to give him protection, but we were giving him a slip and he got few people out in slip also. The most important thing is that he understands his role now... Rishad's role is to get wickets: even if he goes for 40 runs [in 4 overs], still he needs to pick three or four wickets. If Rishad picks three-four wickets, we can always get a side out for 130 to 140.

"Now if he actually gets better with his googly, flipper, wrong-un and [adds] variations like how to use the crease, wide of the crease middle of the crease and all those things, I think he could single-handedly be a match winner," Mushtaq emphasised.

While Mushtaq has been intent on getting a lot of red-ball cricket for Rishad to get better with his craft, Bangladesh's captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto believes it is too too early for the youngster to be pushed into the long format. He did, however, advocate for more opportunities for Rishad in domestic cricket to get lot more overs under his belt. Whether that eventually turns into reality is the big question in the corridors of Bangladesh cricket.

What Bangladesh have at their disposal is a rare talent on their hands. But they are not well versed in the art of grooming a legspinner. Whether Rishad grows from this great start into an even better bowler or simply withers away after an early flash may eventually just come down to his treatment by the ecosystem.