Hafeez reported for suspect action again

E-Paper | July 30, 2026

GALLE: Muhammad Hafeez, Pakistan's star all-rounder, has been reported for a suspect bowling action once again after Pakistan's dominating 10-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the first test, according to ESPNcricinfo.

Also read: Pakistan win rain-hit Galle Test after Yasir Shah's magical spell.

Hafeez's action was reported last year in November after the first Test match against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi, with the all-rounder failing to pass two unofficial bio-mechanics test after that.

Hafeez was the second Pakistani offspinner, after Saeed Ajmal, to be suspended for an illegal action last year.

After failing two unofficial bio-mechanics tests, the all-rounder was due to undergo an official assessment on Feb 16 in Brisbane but a calf muscle injury prevented him in doing so and also resulted in him missing Pakistan's World Cup venture in Australia.

But Hafeez was finally cleared to bowl in international cricket again on April 21, after more tests on his action in Chennai.

Take a look: Hafeez overjoyed as bowling action cleared by ICC.

According to ICC rules, Hafeez now has 21 days to go through an official test to determine the legality of his bowling action. Until the outcome of the test, he can bowl in international matches.

However, since this is the second time he has been reported in a year, if his action is found illegal, the offspinner could face a one-year bowling ban.

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Harmony-1

Jun 21, 2015 10:08pm

It's becoming ridiculous with reporting and banning becoming a regular occurrence and destroying players like this. There won't be any good bowlers left soon. Might as well revisit the man made bending rules as they have already been bent before in Murali's time.

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KARACHI WALA

Jun 21, 2015 10:09pm

There goes Pakistan's fifth bowling option. Again....!

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TRUTH

Jun 21, 2015 11:05pm

Pakistan is always targeted when they play good.

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Shakeel ahmed

Jun 21, 2015 11:49pm

You never know they may now even report Yasir Shah's action as being too straight and illegal if they compare it with what was accepted as legal for Muralitharan!

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Blue Saffron

Jun 22, 2015 12:24am

Cricket as we have known it is dead. Regional factions have now taken over ICC.

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Adil Khan

Jun 22, 2015 12:59am

By the way, I was watching Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman's bowling in an ODI today where he too six wickets. I wonder if he too would come under some sort of scrutiny? These are unheard of stats before and painful.

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ENIGMA

Jun 22, 2015 04:49am

ICC sour grapes? As long as the ICC keeps unjustly attacking Pakistani cricketers, there will never be a level playing field for Pakistani cricketers. The PCB needs to divorce itself from the ICC and create an independent cricket organization which doesn't demonize its players for their natural, brilliant talents. I'm sure South Africa, Windies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and yes even Australia may join in this new cricket "world order" which would marginalize the draconian ICC's monopoly.

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Akil Akhtar

Jun 22, 2015 04:56am

Did he take too many wickets to their liking....LOL ICC is a joke now. Reflects the quality of the people heading it.

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LOUDSPEAKER

Jun 22, 2015 05:17am

Best thing for Mohammad Hafeez is to give up bowling and focus his attention on batting, this is the only way he can save his cricket career.

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Farhan

Jun 22, 2015 07:57am

Since when did Hafeez become a "star" allrounder? He's useless, especially as a batsman, and the ICC is doing Pakistan a favour by banning him.

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Ovais

Jun 22, 2015 01:48pm

Rubbish. ICC needs to change the rule and procedures about this otherwise umpires will disqualify all Pakistan team out of the cricket team. Here is the suggestion. If Umpire see bowler delivering illegal delivery intentionally he should warn the player first on that particular over and give him a full good reason and if bowler does this again during the match then give him the red card and bowler should now allow to bowl on that particular match and charge them a fine and fee to the all team on this action so next time bowlers will be very careful. Something ICC need to consider seriously since Pakistan team suffer so much cricket and if the incident like this keep happening team will lose the focus and trust on ICC. Testing procedure on those labs are all bogus and scientifically has no credibility. ICC needs to think outside the box and change the cricket book little bit and make it more interesting for the players and game.

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FAS

Jun 22, 2015 02:43pm

Really senseless on part of ICC.. Bowling art is already fading and quality of bowling is getting deteriorated because of Batting friendly rules.. Now they are targeting the bowlers with such performance magnitude over the years.. They already spend decades and now ICC is waking up!!! LOL

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Asif iqbal teli

Jun 23, 2015 07:24pm

Omg pakistani bowlers r being reported twice and indians are roaming free.Pathetic.

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