Mushtaq Ahmed to be available for Tigers in Pakistan series

Legendary leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed will join  Bangladesh to guide its leg-spinners in the upcoming Test series against his own country Pakistan, a top official of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said.

"He is available for the Pakistan series," BCB Cricket Operations Chairman Jalal Younus told the reporters here today. "He has some programmes, so he will be busy till December."

Bangladesh is trying to rope in Mushtaq for a long term basis, Younus reiterated.

"We are in fact trying to have a long-term contract with him after January," he said.

"We are not sure if he is available and if we will certainly get his service, but we will try our best. We are indeed getting positive vibes." the BCB official added.

Mushtaq supervised Bangladesh's spin bowling unit during the T20 World Cup in the United States of America (USA) and the Caribbean. He thereafter took up a coaching job with the England U-19 team.

The Bangladesh spinners, specially the leg-spinner Rishad Ahmed made a giant progress under his supervision and other spinners also were benefited which prompted BCB to convince him for a long term job.

The Bangladesh national team is set to leave the country in the second week of August with the first Test starting from August 21 in Rawalpindi.

Karachi will host the second and final Test from August 30.

Meanwhile, Yunus informed that head coach Chandika Hathurusingha will return to the country from Australia on August 2 after which he joins the team's training in Dhaka.

Hathurusingha's return has been deferred twice-- initially from July 19 due to an issue with his wife and then from July 26 due to visa issues.