PESHAWAR, March 18: India captain Saurav Ganguly appeared to raise fresh doubts over Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar's action on Thursday on the eve of the sides' third one-dayer.
"I was asked if he was chucking or not," Ganguly said, when asked to clarify local media reports that he had questioned Shoaib's action after the second match at Rawalpindi.
"I said: 'You're all seeing it on tv. I don't need to answer that. Everyone knows the truth'." Shoaib, regarded as the world's fastest bowler and who has been clocked at 100mph, has been reported three times for a suspect bowling action. He was given the all-clear in 2001. Experts in Australia said he had an abnormally flexible elbow joint.
Shoaib took three wickets in Rawalpindi, where Pakistan won a tense match by 12 runs after piling up 329 for six. "Ganguly is entitled to his own opinion," Pakistan team manager Haroon Rasheed said.
"This matter is the International Cricket Council's concern. As far as we are concerned, Shoaib has been cleared and his action is legal." Matches between India and Pakistan are always tense because of the high expectations from hundreds of millions of fans in both countries.
Ganguly's remarks have added an extra edge to the five-match series, which is tied at 1-1 after two high-scoring games. Friday's wicket at Peshawar is expected to produce another run feast.
"The wicket looks slightly green, so that might help the bowlers a bit more," Ganguly said. "This is a small ground and they've left some grass on the wicket because otherwise it leaves no margin for error for the bowlers at all."
India are worried about their frontline bowlers, with seamer Ashish Nehra ruled out for the series with a hand injury and left-arm quick Zaheer Khan, back after a two-month hamstring injury, struggling for form.
"We'll obviously miss Nehra, but you can't do anything about injuries," Ganguly said. "Zaheer is coming back from injury and it's always tough to get your rhythm back at this level.
It's definitely an area of concern but Zaheer had a good nets session and we're hoping he'll get back to his best soon." Nehra will be replaced in the playing 11 by left-armer Irfan Pathan, who made his debut in Australia earlier this year. -Reuters
