COLOMBO: Sri Lanka off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action during the third and final Test against India, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Wednesday.

“The match officials’ report, which was handed over to the Sri Lanka management, cited concerns about the legality of the 22-year-old’s bowling action,” the ICC said in a statement.

Kaushal will now undergo testing on his bowling action within two weeks following the match that India won on Tuesday by 117 runs for their first series win on the island in 22 years.

Kaushal, who has picked up 24 wickets from six Tests since making his international debut in December, is allowed to continue bowling in international cricket until the test results are known.

Acting on the recommendations of its cricket committee last year, the ICC has cracked down on suspect bowling actions, with off-spinners being the main target.

Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez, Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson — all off-spinners — were among those reported and subsequently suspended to allow remedial work on their actions.

The crackdown has largely been welcomed in the cricket community but critics have warned against what they felt was selective culling.

Rules drawn up in November 2004 state that an action is illegal when the bowler’s elbow straightens over the stipulated 15-degree arc in his delivery stride.

The off-spinner’s googly — ‘the doosra’ which turns from leg to off — is believed to be targeted by umpires on the pretext that it is difficult to bowl one with a legal action.

Kaushal has been earmarked as the island country’s spin spearhead when Rangana Herath, 37, eventually retires. He has already taken two five-wicket hauls in his career and picked up 13 scalps in the three Tests against India, the third highest tally behind Herath and paceman Dhammika Prasad (both 15) for the Sri Lankans.

Sri Lanka are not in action until October when they host West Indies in a series featuring two Tests, three One-day Internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2015

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