Suspended off-spinner Sohag Gazi will need to make drastic change to his action in order to return to international cricket as independent analysis showed he extended his elbow more than 25 degrees during the recent biomechanical test, said a Bangladesh Cricket Board official on Thursday.
The International Cricket Council on Wednesday banned Sohag from bowling in international cricket after his bowling actions was found to be illegal during the test conducted at the Cardiff Metropolitan University in Wales on September 19.
‘It has been proved that on an average he extended his elbow 25 degrees and it is substantially high,’ said BCB’s game development manager Nazmul Abedin.
‘But I won’t say that it is too high. Lots of players are hoping to comeback despite crossing higher degrees than this margin,’ he said. ‘So we are hopeful that he can make a comeback,’ said Nazmul, who worked with the bowler after he was reported.
Sohag was reported with suspect bowling action by the match officials during second one-day international against West Indies in Grenada on August 22. He was pulled out from the subsequent Test series against Caribbeans and the Asian Games.
The report of the match officials cited concerns about the legality of the 23-year-old’s bowling action for all deliveries, which they believed to have crossed maximum permissible 15 degrees.
Despite the concern, the off-spinner, who played 10 Tests and 20 ODIs for Bangladesh, was hopeful of making a return to international cricket with the forthcoming home series against Zimbabwe.
But he has to go through a remedial process now before applying for a re-assessment of his bowling action in accordance with the ICC guideline. If his action still appears to be faulty during the re-assessment he will risk one year suspension.
The player however can continue playing domestic cricket during the remedial process, provided he is allowed by the BCB.
‘A programme is required where couple of coaches will work with him with his action,’ said Nazmul. ‘Once we are satisfied that it reached to an acceptable position we will send him for a re-assessment and only after that can we say where he stands,’ said Nazmul.
‘But it’s not going to be easy for him to return immediately. Personally, I had the opportunity to work with Naimur Rahman and Mohammad Rafique who had similar problems 10 to 12 years back. It always proved that the process can take time.
‘Now we can take the help of modern facilities and take technological support so that he can make a recovery at a relatively shorter span of time,’ said Nazmul.
Nazmul added that substantial part of time is consumed during the remedial process so that it does not hamper the performance of the player after his action is changed.
‘Sohag’s action need to be changed keeping in mind that his performance is not hampered and that is the key, so the process needs to be implemented very carefully,’ he said.
‘It is difficult to say how long it will take and depends totally on the player’s smartness about how he goes during the entire process.’
-With New Age input
