ICC elite panel umpires reporting bowling actions of two key Bangladesh bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny has created a storm in social media.
They are not the first bowlers, reported for action neither it will be the last. But question naturally arises when bowlers are reported after playing international cricket for a while under eagle eyes of ICC umpires are suddenly reported.
Taskin and Sunny have played many international matches in the recent past and were not reported. Suddenly what happened?
Did they change their action? Both represented Bangladesh in ICC World cup played in Australia New Zealand and appeared in few bilateral series in Bangladesh.
Only few days back they played Asia Cup T20 tournament in Bangladesh. After the first match against Netherlands in the first round of T20 world cup the bowlers have been reported. They will appear for test on Saturday and Monday.
If one compares the bowling action of Taskin with some other players of leading teams it does not appear that Taskin does anything different. We hope he will go through any test unscarred. We are not so sure about Sunny though.
This morning this writer talked with Bangladesh cricket Icon Aminur Islam Bulbul. We are concerned that players of teams other than Australia, India and England frequently gets reported. But hardly any bowler of the big (?) three gets reported.
If any bowler breaks the limit let him get suspended we have no issues. But when players playing for a while in international cricket suddenly gets reported it obviously raises questions.
Taskin and Sunny were reported after Bangladesh through excellent bowling performance won that tight match. Both are essential elements of Bangladesh bowling strength. Both can create worries for big teams in the main round. Is their action so poor that they need to be tested during the tenure of the tournament? It is not difficult assessing which countries will be benefitted if one or both get suspended.
Bangladesh pace attack with fit again Mustafiz, Taskin, Al Amin and Abu Haidar is as good as any team. Sunny is a wicket taking bowler. The balance of Bangladesh bowling will be adversely affected if any or both cannot take any further part in the tournament. Return of Mustafiz may cover for Taskin but who can replace Sunny. With Shakib not in his best form Bangladesh will suffer immensely. Bangladesh head coach Haturasinghe has already stated that his bowlers were not doing anything different. Does it mean that umpires officiating in international matches were kind to them in overlooking their faults?
Bangladesh has advanced in many areas. BCB has huge fund of its own. They must work on setting up facilities for checking actions of bowlers in Bangladesh.
Before sending teams for any international tournaments all bowlers can have routine checks. Even for domestic cricket suspected bowlers can be tested.
As Taskin and Sunny are already officially reported they have to undergo testing. At this stage we can only wish for the best to them.
If there are anything else than cricket it will be very unfortunate. Many actions of ICC in the recent past had created doubts and confusion among member countries.
Let us hope that reporting against Taskin and Rony is not anything such. Players of all member countries – ICC test playing countries and associate countries must not be differentiated. Qualifying for full membership should also be enough for playing in main round of any global tournament.
BDST: 1027 HRS, MAR 12, 2016
AKA
