Local umpires were impressed with left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny as he began his journey with a remodeled action after being suspended by International Cricket Council for suspect bowling action.
Sunny opted to stay away from the Dhaka Premier League for the first five rounds in order to help himself rectifying his action despite there was no bar on him for playing domestic cricket.
He made his first appearance for Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club against Kalabagan Krira Chakra on Saturday after he was finally convinced about his new bowling action.
Though Sunny did not get any wicket with his new action, he conceded just 37 runs in his 10 overs.
‘I think he is giving an honest try,’ umpire Sharfuddoula ibne Saikat, who stood in the match, told New Age.
‘It is too early to say whether his action is changed totally because it can be said only after watching him for some reasonable amount of time while it also needed to be formally assessed by the ICC,’ said Sharfuddoula, one of the three international umpires from Bangladesh.
‘During the match he kept on bowling with his remodeled action and it never looked to be problematic,’ said Saikat after watching him closely as spinner bowled from his end.
Umpire Nadir Shah said that Sunny’s remodeled action looked to have cut down his pace that was regarded as one of his strengths but at the same time it is helping him to add some variations.
‘I think he is bowling lot slower but his arms are coming much straighter now,’ observed Nadir.
‘Definitely it will need time for him to adjust totally with the new action but certainly he is having more varieties as he is taking the advantage of the wicket to the maximum.
‘He was hit for a four but still managed to bowl with his new action. Hence he should be credited because usually we have seen after being in such a position bowlers tend to bowl with his previous action,’ said.
The International Cricket Council banned Sunny and fellow team-mate Taskin Ahmed on March 19 for illegal bowling action.
The duo was reported with suspect action after Bangladesh’s first match in the ICC World Twenty20 against Netherlands. They underwent test in an ICC accredited centre in Chennai, India before being banned.
Sunny did his rehabilitation with national assistant coach Ruwan Kalpage for couple of days. He mostly had to do it alone as Kalpage left for Sri Lanka on vacation only to leave some video footage for him to follow.
Sheikh Jamal’s coach Anwar Hossain said hoped Sunny will gradually improve with his new action.
‘Naturally he was nervous and shaky because it was like bowling from the scratch as he remodeled his action,’ said Anwar said of his new action.
‘But I am sure he will improve after gaining some confidence,’ he said.
-With New Age input
