LAHORE: Pakistan cricket team’s hopes of qualifying for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 suffered a major blow as the International Cricket Council has banned all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez from bowling for one year because of flawed bowling action.

The green-shirts will be playing their third One-day International against Sri Lanka on Sunday. The series is tie at 1-1 at the moment and Pakistan desperately wants to win it in order to qualify for the Champions Trophy, as only top eight teams on ICC rankings qualify for it.

Pakistan currently occupies the ninth position.

The ICC press-release issued on Friday said, “Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has been banned from bowling in international cricket for 12 months following an independent assessment of his action at the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai, India, on July 6.

“The 34-year-old was assessed after the legality of his bowling action came under question by the match officials during Pakistan’s first Test victory over Sri Lanka in Galle on June 17-21.

“Following the match, Hafeez was reported by the match officials pursuant to the ICC Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with suspected illegal bowling actions and subsequently underwent the independent assessment in Chennai in accordance with the regulations. The assessment revealed that Hafeez’s elbow extension exceeded 15 degrees while bowling and, thus, he employed an illegal bowling action.

“Hafeez was originally suspended from bowling in November 2014. Following remedial work on his bowling action, he was reassessed and permitted to resume bowling in April 2015.

“As this report has constituted the player’s second report within a two-year period, the first of which led to a suspension, he is now automatically suspended from bowling in international cricket for 12 months.

“Hafeez is entitled to appeal any procedural aspect of an independent assessment that has led to this automatic suspension. However, only after the expiry of this one-year period will he be entitled to approach the ICC for a re-assessment of his bowling action.”

Meanwhile, chief selector Haroon Rashid expressed his disappointment over the decision at a very crucial stage when Pakistan was struggling to qualify for the Champions Trophy.

At the moment, he said, it was up to the touring selection committee to include Hafeez or not in the playing XI as batsman.

However, Haroon hinted the road was not smooth for Hafeez. “A good competition for the opening slots is available as Mukhtar Ahmad and Noman Anwar are also knocking at the door, but Hafeez due to his vast experience as batsman still have the sway over others. He has to perform as batsman to strengthen his place,” he said.

The chief selector added that he was quite hopeful that Hafeez would clear the biomechanics test and help Pakistan win the series after playing a key role in Pakistan’s victory in the first ODI.

The team management may also test a new comer Bilal Asif as all-rounder in Hafeez’s place. Bilal has performed at the domestic level as an all-rounder who bowls off-spin.

Hafeez is a veteran of 44 Test matches scoring at an average of 39.07. He has also played 163 ODIs scoring at an average of 31.44 with 129 wickets.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2015

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