LAHORE: Zaka Ashraf has held the Pakistan Cricket Board’s wrong approach as the main reason behind experienced off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez failing to clear the biomechanics test, as the ex-Board chief claims all it is happening due to India’s hold in world cricket.

“I had already warned the PCB not to send Hafeez to Chennai for the biomechanics test because India and England both have no positive attitude towards Pakistan cricket,” Zaka said.

“I still believe the bowling action of both Saeed Ajmal and Hafeez are legal because in the past they cleared the test, and it [the current scenario on their bowling action] is all a drama hatched by India and England to attack Pakistan’s best spin-bowling department ahead of the World Cup,” Zaka alleged.

Zaka had advised the PCB to send Hafeez for test on his bowling action to an Australian lab, doubting India will not clear him. However, the PCB overlooked the call and sent Hafeez to Chennai from where the report has been received, declaring the action as illegal.

According to Zaka, both the PCB and the national team management also blundered by keeping Hafeez with the team in the UAE after he was called by umpires in the first Test against New Zealand last November.

“Considering the World Cup was coming, Hafeez should have been sent back to Pakistan for immediately starting rehab work on him as at that time the PCB had much more time [before the World Cup]. But Hafeez was kept engaged with the team; after appearing in his first biomechanics test [in the UK] he came to the UAE directly to join the team again,” Zaka recalled, criticising this approach of the PCB.

“Earlier, the PCB had also dented Hafeez’s confidence level when he was going to lead the Pakistan team in the last year’s World Twenty20 [in Bangladesh] by giving tip to five players of that squad they might be in the running to lead the side if Hafeez failed to perform in the mega event,” Zaka regretted.

Though Hafeez had the ability to remain in the ODI team purely as batsman, both the PCB and the team management needed to support him fully so that he could deliver with a positive frame of mind, ignoring the fact he could not bowl, Zaka stressed.

Asked if the PCB should send Hafeez to Australia for a second bio-mechanics test, Zaka thought now it would not be a useful step because — he considered — India had fixed a tag on Hafeez’s bowling action through the report of its own lab.

When contacted, incumbent PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan did not agree to Zaka’s viewpoint on sending Hafeez to India, saying: “Since professional people run these laboratories it is not easy for them to work in unprofessional way.”

Meanwhile, while backing PCB’s decision to appoint Naveed Akram Cheema as Pakistan team manager, particularly before the World Cup, Zaka claimed it was in fact a decision made by the government as a strong lobby in the PCB was trying to keep Moin Khan with the dual job of manager and chief selector.

“Now the PCB chairman has to give full support to Naveed as manager in order to protect him from the lobby, having soft corner for Moin,” said Zaka, adding Naveed as administrator was far better than Moin.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2015

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