The Hindu : Sport : <I>Doosra</I>: ball in ICC's court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 24, 2004

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Doosra: ball in ICC's court

Chris Broad, the former England opener has shown that he is not averse to stirring the pot in his current role as an ICC referee. He reported Harbhajan Singh for suspected illegal action immediately after the conclusion of the recent Test series.

In fairness it has to be said that Broad was doing his job and it would probably not have given him any pleasure in having to report two of the leading off-spinners in the sub-continent.

It will now depend on what the ICC does with his reports. Of course, ICC has laid down certain procedures but once again, those procedures can hardly provide a permanent solution.

At best, they (ICC procedures) give a bowler under suspicion enough time to rectify his action.

Harbhajan is no stranger to his current situation, being earlier reported in 1998. The only difference now is that it is a real embarrassment for someone who is a force to reckon with in international cricket.

But the unfortunate thing is that the apex body has held back when it came to tackling issues involving key players of different nations.

Under the microscope

Muralitharan has been under the microscope for well over a decade but he was allowed by the ICC to continue playing international cricket after a medical theory strongly suggested that it was not possible for Muralitharan to chuck the ball.

The fact is that Muralitharan has hardly changed his action since then, until Broad reported him.

The same goes for Harbhajan Singh, as he has not made any real obvious changes to his action since 1998. The doosra which has fetched both Harbhajan and Muralitharan a lot of success has ironically landed them in trouble yet again.

It is very hard to convince yourself that the report was based on just the `doosra wickets', but quite obviously Broad would have looked silly if he were to report them for their stock delivery since the apex body had cleared them.

It is interesting that none of the other referees deemed it fit to report the off-spin duo. Has Broad seen something that others failed to see or has he taken it upon himself to set right the system?

Harbhajan Singh must be an extremely disappointed man as the recent report can have a devastating impact on his psyche. He has a lot of skill for someone so young and he can refrain from bowling the doosra till things are sorted out. By that I mean that he has to work on developing the right technique bowling it.

Nothing new

The doosra might be a new term, but an off-spinner bowling a delivery leaving the batsman is not a new discovery.

There have been some exceptional exponents of that variation like Prasanna, Venkat and Gopal Sharma.

The `Turbanator' would do well to have any one of them help him out. Harbhajan has played enough cricket to make minor alterations to his action without letting them affect his efficiency.

The ICC on its part has added to the confusion by making amendments in the laws, which give some allowances. It becomes impossible to assess the degree of flex in the elbow for any umpire during the game despite the availability of slow motion replays.

While the biomechanics tests may pinpoint the flaws of a bowler, it is very difficult to pass a bowler based on those tests conducted in a lab.

There is no way a bowler is subjected to pressure in a lab, as is the case on the field. A bowler's reaction is totally different on the field when being hit all over the park.

The time has come for the ICC to devise a clear-cut policy on chucking rather than subjecting cricketers to severe strain repeatedly.

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