Former Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath could soon be appointed Bangladesh’s new spin bowling consultant, with the BCB chairman stating him as a “front-runner” to replace Daniel Vettori.
“Herath is one of the candidates and he is certainly a front-runner for the post,”
the BCB chairman Akram Khan told Cricbuzz, also confirming Sairaj Bahutule and Saeed Ajmal as the other candidates.
Herath had himself informed on Monday that he is in talks with the board regarding the post. Herath holds the record for taking the highest number of wickets in Test history for a left-arm bowler.
Sri Lanka’s wily old fox ended with 433 scalps from his 93 Tests at 28.07 runs per piece. Herath’s tally included 34 five-wicket hauls at the time he called it quits in November 2018.
The post of Bangladesh’s spin bowling consultant has gone vacant because of Vettori’s absence on a regular basis due to the hurdles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sohel Islam, a local spin bowling coach, had filled the void for the Test series in Sri Lanka recently, but won’t be available for the forthcoming Zimbabwe tour.
While Sohel understandably has good support within the dressing room, he will be on paternity leave when Bangladesh take on Zimbabwe.
“We would try our best to finalise it (spin bowling consultant post) before the Zimbabwe tour as Australia will be touring Bangladesh just after the Zimbabwe tour with New Zealand and England following suit,”
Akram said.
Bangladesh will be travelling to Zimbabwe for one Test, three ODIs, three T20Is. As Akram confirmed, they will also be hosting Australia, New Zealand and England for limited-overs assignments ahead of the T20 World Cup, slated to be held in India in October-November.
