Mushtaq the spin-bowling coach, and mentor

In the recent past, there has been a phenomenon going on in the Bangladesh dressing room.

Whenever any cricketer felt down and needed mental boost up, one man was there for them - Mushtaq Ahmed.

Team insiders confirmed Daily Sun that the World Cup-winning former Pakistani leg-spinner is mentoring national cricketers in his own capacity whenever they need mental support.

“He is a World Cup-winning cricketer and seen everything. He can explain things to cricketers very nicely so you can say that he is mentoring our cricketers though not in official capacity. He worked extensively with Litton (Das) among others,” an official involved with the development told Daily Sun.

It was learnt that Bangladesh’s team manager Nafees Iqbal plays a huge role when it comes to identifying cricketers who seem to be down.

The former Bangladesh opener then sends them over to Mushtaq to have a chat and make sure they are back to their normal selves, which eventually helps them perform to the best of their ability.

Mushtaq, who is unavailable for the home series against Australia due to personal commitment, admitted it and insisted that he just tries to remove the “fear of failure” factor from the cricketers’ minds.

“It is very important to remove the fear of failure factor from (their) mind because it doesn't matter how much talent you have, how much skill you have, if you have doubt about your success, your process, then obviously the consistency will never come,” Mushtaq told Daily Sun recently.

“As a coach I always believe you have got to understand the person and his personality first before you work with that guy, and my philosophy of life with cricketers (is to) change their mindset,” he said.

“First of all, he should be enjoying his life, his success, so how are you going to do that? The theory of that, so we worked together, like not to worry about the failures, you know,” he stated.

Mushtaq said that it is very important to read the mindset of different individuals.

“I think the coaches and everyone is playing a huge role, I'm not saying it's just me, plenty of people (are playing their role) like Nafees Iqbal even, to be honest, he's playing a huge role with me, whenever we sit together we talk about which player we need to give confidence, which player we need to be honest with, which player need to put their feet on the floor, all those things, you have got to pick and choose people, you have got to treat people on their own nature, you can't tell everyone is the same, people have different natures,” said Mushtaq.

“First of all before you start as a professional coach, you have got to read the mindset of the people, if you read them and make a relationship with them, I think that's why people trust you, and remember in any relation in the world, coach or player or husband or wife or whoever, any relationship, if you don't trust each other the relationship cannot go long, and people cannot trust you,” he noted.

“So my philosophy of life as a coach is... I coached in England for six years, so in these six years I think with the blessing of Allah I changed their mindset also because first thing as a coach (you have to do) is you have to build a relationship with the people, and you have got to be honest with them, and also my philosophy is it's not about me, it's nothing to do with me, it's everything about the player, we are here to make difference with the player, lots of coaches see their success before the players', so that's why the relationship never built up, I always believe the failures belong to me, success belongs to the player and his work,” he explained.

Litton has seen both ups and downs in his illustrious career but recently appears to be much more relaxed than before, irrespective of whether he is succeeding or not.

In the recent past, Litton credited spin bowling coach Mushtaq for helping him change his mindset.

“You know during bad times, Litton or any player, when they think I'm still there for them they will always remember you that way and I think that is the time when you actually build up a relationship with them, when they are not doing the right thing,” he said.

“I always use that phrase, there's two kinds of people in the world, during bad and good times one will leave them and walk away from them, while one will hold the hand and walk with them, so you always remember both the people, so it's up to you which person you want to be, on a bad time you want to hold the hand and walk with the people and take them on highest level, or you want to walk away, you don't want to (give) your energy on that thing,” he added.

“These are the things which are very important for Bangladesh, with the blessing of Allah, credit goes to the players also, you know, they've been very good to me, they've been good listeners, I remember I had a job offer from another country, but I chose Bangladesh because I knew the age-group is really good, they are very coachable, they are very good listeners, so hopefully this is the way the relationship is going now,” he stated.

Mushtaq said that cricketers must leave their game at the field before reaching home because carrying it there can be a burden.

“I played this game for 21 years, I know I had bad and good days, but when you finish your bad and good days, when you go home, people are waiting for you, they are your father and mother, brother and sister and your wife, your children, you have got to switch off from this game, you cannot take your failure, or success, with you at home,” said Mushtaq.

It seems the bearded man’s mantra is working for the Tigers.