Razzak admits the lack of quality leg-spinners in pipeline
"There is no quality leg-spinner in the country. That's why they are not there in the BPL. We tried a lot of even half decent leg-spinners at one stage. We searched for leg-spinners. [Jubair Hossain] Likhon was picked in Tests. But he suddenly failed and went off the radar," said Razzak.
Bangladesh is known to be a land of left-arm spinners but leg-spinners in this country are very rare, so much so that the number of local leg-spinners in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is only three. Aminul Islam Biplob and Rishad Hossain are part of the Minister Dhaka squad in the BPL but none of them is not likely to find a place in the XI because of the presence of a more established leg-spinner in Qais Ahmed. Sylhet Sunrisers' Jubair Hossain played just a solitary game but had nothing much to do against a rampant Andre Fletcher and Soumya Sarkar.
Biplob was not originally picked from the draft. Dhaka picked him after he wasn't picked in the players' draft. Biplob is the last leg-spinner to feature for Bangladesh national team. He did decently against India in India in a three-match T20I series in late 2020. He was recalled into the team in a three-match T20I series against Pakistan last year. Biplob picked up two wickets in the series.
The BPL has not featured local leg-spinners including Biplob barring one match. Abdur Razzak, former cricketer and currently a member of the selection committee, said that there is no quality leg-spinner in the country at the moment and that's the reason why the tournament doesn't feature bowlers of this very type.
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"There is no quality leg-spinner in the country. That's why they are not there in the BPL. We tried a lot of even half decent leg-spinners at one stage. We searched for leg-spinners. [Jubair Hossain] Likhon was picked in Tests. But he suddenly failed and went off the radar," said Razzak.
"Biplob did quite well against India but as his performance dipped in the domestic circuit, he was left out. If there is a leg-spinner in the team, it brings a bit of variation," he added.
Razzak stated that the local leg-spinners are getting left out because of team combination. "Like what hapened in the national team, the teams are leaving out the leggies because of team combination. They can't even find a place in domestic cricket. If they can't play there, how can they play international cricket? We cannot see their performances," Razzak said.
