Published: Sep 01, 2017, 01:23 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 01, 2017, 01:25 PM (IST)
Bangladesh spin consultant Sunil Joshi has played his part in the side’s success against Australia in the first Test at Mirpur. Bangladesh beat Australia by 20 runs to take 1-0 lead in the series and the former Indian all-rounder refused to reveal details about the mystery-ball that has been weakening the once-No.1 Test side. “There is one delivery that the Australians are struggling to pick since the India series,” a report from cricket.com.au quotes the 47-year-old, who joined the Bangladesh coaching staff as spin consultant last week. “I won’t say which one it is till the series ends because I don’t want the Aussies to come up with a counter-plan, but I picked it up when they were playing against India. I have told the Bangladesh bowlers to keep bowling that delivery and its working.” ALSO READ: Sunil Joshi: Bangladesh a perfect blend of experience and youth
Joshi has played 15 Tests for India in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and was India’s hero in Bangladesh’s first-ever Test. However, the former left-arm spinner masterminded Bangladesh’s historical triumph where their spinners — Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan and Taijul Islam picked 19 of the 20 wickets to fall. Shakib alone claimed 10 of them.
Joshi has studied the footage of how Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja troubled the Australian batters in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year, where Australia went down 1-2 despite taking a lead. Australia are a top team guided by top professionals in their coaching armoury. The job for them will be to decode Joshi’s cryptic message ahead of their must-win Chittagong Test. They have particularly struggled against the left-arm spinners arm-ball, if that is something Joshi is referring too. However, it would have been smarter to reveal about Australia’s kryptonite post the series.
