Bangladesh’s cricket board announced Tuesday that former Indian bowler Sunil Joshi has been appointed the squad’s spin consultant after Australian Stuart MacGill turned down the coaching gig.
Joshi, a left-arm spinner, will join the squad as a bowling coach ahead of their first Test against Australia starting this Sunday in Dhaka, Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman Jalal Yunus said.
The board had hoped to reel in MacGill for insight into Australia’s bowling attack, ahead of their first tour of Bangladesh in more than a decade.
But officials said MacGill, a former right-arm leg spin bowler who took 208 wickets in 44 Tests for Australia, declined the offer for personal reasons.
The spin bowling job had been vacant since Ruwan Kalpage, a former Sri Lankan player, left last year.
Joshi will stay for two months and also join Bangladesh for their tour of South Africa, Yunus added.
He was approached in February during Bangladesh’s tour of India, their first there since gaining Test status in 2000.
Joshi won man of the match in Bangladesh’s inaugural Test match against India in 2000, when he scored 92 runs and took eight wickets in the best batting and bowling figures in his 15-Test career.
Joshi, who also played 69 one-day internationals, has an impressive first-class record having taken 615 wickets from 160 games.
Bangladesh have not played a Test against Australia since Ricky Ponting’s team visited the country in 2006.
Australia will play two Tests against Bangladesh, the first starting Sunday and the second on September 4.
