Pace bowler Rubel Hossain said on Monday that he was eagerly waiting to meet Pakistani paceman Aaqib Javed to learn a few tricks that he believes would help him to be a more competent bowler.
Former UAE coach Aaqib, who played 22 Tests and 163 one-day internationals for Pakistan, is now in Dhaka to oversee a week-long special fast bowling camp for the pacers under the High Performance programme of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
The Pakistani paceman will also work with the national pacers for two days after his assignment with HP pacers ends and Rubel, who last played for the national team almost a year ago against South Africa, believes this could be quite useful for him.
‘Pakistanis are always different when it comes to swing,’ Rubel told reporters in Mirpur on Monday.
‘They can do the reverse swing very well and in that sense there will be a lot to learn from him,’ said Rubel.
‘They are also good at the death overs.
‘I will try to share a few things with him [Aaqib] and there can be one or two useful tips for me,’ he said.
Rubel said that the unavailability of pace bowling coach in the national set-up can be regarded as a problem as it minimises the chance of learning new things for them.
Tigers are currently without any bowling coach as BCB is yet to fill the post, which fell vacant following the resignation of former Zimbabwean skipper Heath Streak.
The BCB had finalised a short-list for bowling coach before it decided to go slow following the attack on a Spanish café in Dhaka, which left 22 people, mostly foreigners, killed.
‘We need a bowling coach desperately,’ said Rubel. ‘We are professional cricketers and there is always something new to learn as we have learnt many things from different coaches so far,’ he said.
Rubel was eyeing a comeback in the national team after a long injury layoff that kept him sidelined during the Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe as well as Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20.
He was dropped from BCB payroll after he failed to comply with the guideline provided to him during his recovery period from the injury.
Rubel said that he is working hard to regain his fitness after his injury-forced absence.
The right-arm pacer, who clocked 145-kph during the ICC World Cup at down under, is confident that he will get back the pace that had been his core strength.
‘My major strength is my pace and I am trying to regain the pace [I had],’ said the 26-year old pacer with sling action.
‘I don’t think that my pace had decreased substantially [during the injury-forced layoff] because in the last Premier League it seemed to be catching up,’ he said.
‘I know yorker is my strength apart from that I am also trying to learn butterflies.
‘I am working on it for a long time though it is a bit difficult because of my side arm action,’ he said.
Butterfly is a kind of slower, which was perfected by West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo in recent times. Bangladesh’s Shafiul Islam also used the ball with success during 2011 World Cup and Rubel said he is going to add it to his arsenal.
‘One has to grip the ball between two fingers,’ Rubel said of this special kind of delivery. It becomes slower after landing on the pitch. It’s a very good delivery if one can use it with success.’
-With New Age input
