Rishad Hossain has emerged as one of Bangladesh's finest leg-spinners and is now regarded as one of the top rising leg-spinners globally. Having cemented his place in Bangladesh's T20I squad, and now featuring in ODIs, Rishad's rise to prominence owes much to the mentorship of Mushtaq Ahmed, the team’s part-time spin coach. However, Mushtaq believes that for Rishad to truly shine, he must channel his focus towards red-ball cricket.

Rishad’s dominance became apparent during the T20 World Cup when his performance caught the attention of the cricket world. His skill even earned him a spot in the prestigious Big Bash League. Currently, Rishad Hossain is a name often discussed in global cricketing circles. Mushtaq Ahmed, proud of his protégé, firmly believes that Rishad is the future of Bangladesh cricket.

"Rishad has a great future, especially in white-ball cricket," Mushtaq said. "You saw his performance in the World Cup. He’s already on the radar of various international franchises, and he can deliver match-winning performances at any moment."

Despite Rishad’s growing prominence in limited-overs cricket, Mushtaq feels that to enhance his skills and add versatility to his game, Rishad needs to play more red-ball cricket. Mushtaq emphasized the importance of first-class cricket to help the young leg-spinner gain the necessary endurance and experience of bowling longer spells.

"Rishad is a fantastic spinner with great drift and speed, and he’s learning to bowl an effective googly," Mushtaq stated. "But he must play first-class cricket to develop his ability to bowl extended spells. He needs to learn how to bowl 25 overs, not just 4-10, and that can only happen in the longer format."

However, fulfilling Mushtaq's advice could prove challenging for Rishad. Leg-spinners are rarely given opportunities in Bangladesh's first-class cricket. A closer look at Rishad’s first-class career shows that, despite debuting in 2018, he has only played 20 red-ball matches so far, compared to 30 appearances in white-ball formats for the national team.

In these 20 matches, Rishad has picked up 30 wickets, but has bowled just 362.3 overs—an average of fewer than 19 overs per game, highlighting the limited opportunities leg-spinners get in Bangladesh’s red-ball cricket.

Even in Bangladesh’s premier limited-overs tournaments, such as the BPL and DPL, teams are often hesitant to pick leg-spinners. But with a legend like Mushtaq backing him and encouraging the development of leg-spin, Bangladesh might soon see more opportunities for spinners like Rishad in all formats of the game.