Bangladesh national team’s assistant coach Ruwan Kalpage said on Saturday that remodeled bowling action of Arafat Sunny will help him to remove the tag of limited-over bowler.
Sunny began his journey with a remodeled action recently in the Dhaka Premier League after being suspended by International Cricket Council for illegal bowling action.Sunny opted to stay away from the DPL for the first five rounds in order to help himself rectifying his action despite there was no bar on him for playing domestic cricket.
Kalpage returned to Bangladesh on Friday after completing his vacation and looked satisfied with the progress of Sunny, who had been working with him since getting suspended.
‘We started working with him [Sunny] soon after the World Cup. I had two sessions with him there and after words I had five sessions with him,’ Kalpage told New Age on Saturday.
‘We have made progress report and he has done really well.
‘I am sure he will be able to remove the tag of a limited over bowler and also be considered for Test as he is spinning the ball much more than earlier,’ said the Sri Lankan.
‘Before playing the first game he called me and told that clubs are going very strong and wanted him to play and whether he is alright to play or not.
‘When you come up with an injury we ask the same question to the players. Are you ready to take the challenge or not ready to take the challenge?
‘Challenge according to me for him to play a match first. He has to bowl in training and later to a batsman and see when the latter is attacking him how he responses.
‘That is where a bowler can get wrong because for 15 years a bowler is bowling with a certain action.
‘Suddenly with a month he adopts a new action and I think he has done really well.
‘Good thing about him is that I told him he will not have a label [limited over bowler] when he will come up with a new action.
‘You should remove the label that you play only ODI cricket and you should play it at any format. That’s his main challenge as far as I am concerned.
‘He is very happy and he was very comfortable,’ said the former Sri Lankan spinner, who was a part of 1996 World Cup winning side.
The International Cricket Council banned Sunny and his fellow team-mate Taskin Ahmed on March 19 for illegal bowling actions.
The duo was reported with suspect action after Bangladesh’s first match in the ICC World Twenty20 against Netherlands. They underwent tests in an ICC accredited centre in Chennai, India before being banned.
Sunny did his rehabilitation with national assistant coach 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.
Kalpage believed that Sunny will not be having the same kind of fate like some other Bangladeshi cricketers because he had the mind-set to open up with the new challenge.
Sohag Gazi, who was reported earlier, could not make a name for himself in the domestic circuit as he could not keep up his effectiveness.
‘I am not putting any one down but the truth is education is very important,’ added Kalpage.
‘Some people think in one direction. They only focus on earning money.’
‘As far Sunny is concerned I told him it is a matter of your life and death.
‘A lot of people will come up with lot of ideas but in the end it is you to decide whether you play with your old action and play for two three years or you play with a remodel action,’ said the Sri Lankan.
-With New Age input
