Bangladesh bowling duo reported for suspect action

DUBAI: Bangladesh bowling duo Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed have been reported for suspect bowling actions during their team’s opening World Twenty20 match against the Netherlands on Wednesday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.

Off-spinner Sunny bowled two overs and fast bowler Taskin four during the game in Dharamsala, India, with neither taking a wicket.

Bangladesh won the game by eight runs.

“The ICC is working with the Bangladesh cricket team management to confirm times for the independent testing of both bowlers at the ICC-accredited testing centre in Chennai,” the governing body said in a media release on Thursday.

Both players can continue playing until the results of the tests are known.

This left the Bangladesh team livid. Their coach Chandika Hathurusingha informed reporters that his team had received written and official communication from the match officials that they were “concerned” about the actions of the duo.

Hathurusingha said he didn’t feel there was anything suspect about their actions. He questioned the timing of the report, saying the two bowlers had been bowling “the same way for the last 12 months. “If they have a concern about my bowlers, I have a concern about their [ICC’s] actions as well,” Hathurusingha said.

“I don’t see anything wrong. They have bowled the same way as the last 12 months. As you said if they [the ICC officials] have officiated the matches they have been playing, they must have seen something different yesterday,” he said.

One of the on-field umpires making this report, Rod Tucker, and the match referee for the match, Andy Pycroft, officiated in Bangladesh games as recently as June 2015. Tucker was an on-field umpire when Bangladesh beat India 2-1 at home, and Pycroft was the match referee. Asked how it affects his side, Hathurusingha promised they were not going to change their actions. “It’s about how you take it,” he said. “As bowlers they are strong enough to understand what they are doing is right. We also think that we have no concern. They have played so much cricket, recently as well. It is a surprise for us. We have to take their concerns. They are only concerns at this stage. I don’t think it will affect the way we are playing,” said Hathurusingha, who played for Sri Lanka from 1991 to 1999.

The match officials have been in focus in the Dharamshala leg of the qualifiers after Oman revealed they were being subtly asked to refrain from mankading. They budged from their pro-mankading stance and agreed to warn the non-striker before running him out in the delivery stride.