Pakistan All-Rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who went to an unofficial test on his remodeled bowling action in Chennai last week has failed the test. This news comes as a major jolt for the Pakistan’s cricket fraternity as not the Pakistan Cricket Board may not apply for an official test on Hafeez’s action and now Hafeez, who is banned from bowling will be picked as a specialist batsman in the World Cup squad.
During the test conducted at Sri Ramachandra University laboratory, Hafeez was asked to bowl 11 deliveries out of which the flex in six deliveries went above the 15-degree limit, which is the yardstick for the bowlers around the world.
He bowled six deliveries over the wicket and five from around the wicket. “The average flex in the deliveries bowled by Hafeez over the wicket was 16 degrees. Of the five deliveries bowled round the wicket by him, two had 17 and 19 degrees of flex respectively,” as given in the report.
Mohammad Hafeez became the second Pakistani offspinner (first one is Saeed Ajmal) to be suspended for an illegal action last year while he was playing for Lahore Lions in the Champions League T20. That sanction did not apply to international cricket but he was reported again in November during the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi. His action was found to be illegal in December and he was asked to undergo the tests and the test analysis showed that the flex for all his deliveries was above the 15-degree limit.
Hafeez played as a specialist batsman against New Zealand. Ajmal recently withdrew himself from the World Cup as his remodeled action needed further work before an official test.