Bangladesh wrist spinner Rishad Hossain has witnessed a rapid rise in his career ever since his foray. After his debut in 2023, he finished as Bangladesh’s best performer at the T20 World Cup 2024, finishing equal with Rashid Khan on 14 wickets at third place.
Since 2024, Rishad has evolved his craft brilliantly and has the most wickets in T20Is. With 57 wickets from 42 innings, he tops the charts ahead of short-format stalwarts like Rashid Khan, Wanindu Hasaranga, Adam Zampa and Varun Chakravarthy.
Furthermore, his dot ball percentage of 38.95% shows how clinical he is in choking oppositions even when he is not picking up wickets.
| Player | Innings | Overs | Wicket | Eco | Ave | SR | 4W | 5W | BBI | dot ball % |
| Rishad Hossain | 42 | 146.2 | 57 | 8.23 | 21.14 | 15.4 | 0 | 0 | 3/18 | 38.95 |
| Rashid Khan | 25 | 96 | 50 | 6.18 | 11.86 | 11.52 | 5 | 0 | 4/14 | 43.05 |
| A Zampa | 31 | 117 | 49 | 8.09 | 19.31 | 14.33 | 2 | 0 | 4/12 | 34.90 |
| PW Hasaranga | 27 | 104.2 | 48 | 7.06 | 15.35 | 13.04 | 2 | 0 | 4/15 | 37.06 |
| CV Varun | 18 | 68 | 38 | 7.24 | 12.95 | 10.74 | 0 | 2 | 5/17 | 42.15 |
The 23-year-old is now set to feature in his maiden Big Bash League (BBL) for the reigning champions Hobart Hurricanes in the upcoming season and Rishad will hope that a successful stint will open doors to bigger and better gigs in franchise cricket in the future.
Ahead of that, Rishad wants to learn from the Hurricanes’ Head of Strategy, Ricky Ponting, who also happens to be the head coach of IPL franchise Punjab Kings.
Speaking in a Zoom interaction, the Bangladesh spinner was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz,
“Ponting was one of my favorite players growing up; I used to watch him play. I’m really looking forward to working with him. More than the players, I’m looking forward to working with Ricky Ponting and playing under his coaching.”
Rishad comes from a country where wrist spinners are an anomaly. Bangladesh has been fixated with left-arm spinners for quite some time in the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Rafique, Taijul Islam and thus the emergence of Rishad itself is quite a feat.
Before Rishad, Bangladesh had two legspinners – Wahidul Gani who played a single ODI in 1988 and Jubair Hossain, who played just ten international matches between 2014 and 2015. Legspin was treated like an indulgence in Bangladesh – far too complicated and expensive.
However, given the clinical role of wrist-spinners in modern-day white-ball cricket, Bangladesh were missing out on a trick before Rishad burst onto the scene and changed the country’s outlook.
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Rishad’s selection in Hobart means that Ricky Ponting sees something special in the youngster and given his T20I exploits, PBKS might also consider him at the IPL 2026 auction. Rishad, apart from international cricket, has also impressed in franchise leagues.
In PSL 2025 for Lahore Qalandars, Hossain took 13 wickets from seven games at 17.23. In the 2024 Dhaka Premier League, he took 23 wickets, including one five-wicket haul and two four-fors.
While PBKS already have a star leggie in IPL’s highest wicket-taker – Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishad can come in and operate in tandem with the Indian spinner or can also be used in a backup role. He can be brought in replacing Praveen Dubey, another leggie in the Punjab ranks who played just one match in IPL 2025 and picked up a solitary wicket. Furthermore, Rishad is a more than capable hitter with the bat which makes him a lucrative commodity for a league like IPL.
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