Mohammad Hafeez has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board to request ICC for a re-examination of his illegal bowling action as soon as he is allowed to bowl once again next month.
The opening batsman, with his decent off-spin, has so far taken 52 Test wickets but was suspended from bowling in international cricket for a period of one year as the ICC ruled he exceeded the 15-degree limit for the second time in two years. The first time he was reported during last year’s second Test win over Sri Lanka in Galle.
But Hafeez doesn’t want to abandon his bowling, rather wants the Pakistan Cricket Board to approach ICC to reassess his action once the ban is lifted.
As per the rule, he wasn’t even allowed to have his bowling action analyzed during the suspension period. the 35-year-old Pakistani cricketer will be allowed to bowl in the upcoming England tour when the suspension would end in the second week of July and Hafeez insists he is keen to bowl on.
“I want to bowl as soon as possible,” he said in a recent interview. “I was number one all-rounder in the ICC Rankings and I want to achieve it again. Very soon you will see me bowling.”
He can apply for his action to be scrutinized at either of England’s two ICC accredited labs, one is in Cardiff and the other at Loughborough, but Hafeez is believed to bide his time before being analyzed.
“I have not given up as an allrounder [and] I was working very hard on my bowling action,” he said.
“But I could not practice in the last three months due to the knee injury. Now that I am recovering and reaching full fitness I will start practice again and increase the repetitions.”
Hafeez suffered a muscle tear in his right knee during the World T20 in March and hasn’t been able to play any cricket since then.
Before he boarded the team’s flight to England he also took a dig at his country’s media for accusing him of faking the injury during the World T20.
“The media accused me of pretending injury which had a terrible effect on my social life,” he said.
“The people in our media don’t understand to what extent their irresponsible reporting can disturb our lives.
“I have kids who go to school … what if someone tells my kids, ‘Your father faked an injury and did not want to serve the country’? What sort of impact it will have on my and my family’s social life?
“If I was faking an injury then why haven’t I played for three months? All the scans and medical experts are also fake?”
Hafeez also ruled out the speculation that he is keen to bowl because he wouldn’t survive in Test cricket if he was selected only as a specialist batsman.
“People [have] put a question mark on my career, they thought I wouldn’t find a place in the team as a batsman,” he said. “But my performance in the last year is in front of you.
“I know that my absence as a bowler has affected our bowling combination, that’s why I am working hard to be back as an allrounder.”
Since the bowling ban was enforced on him, Hafeez has appeared in three Tests scoring 380 runs at an average of 63.33 – the most significant innings of which was his man-of-the-match 151 against England at Sharjah.
He has also played 12 ODIs scoring 513 runs at an average of 46.63, but the right-hander claims the Test century against the England was his best memorable moment.