The Hindu : Sport : Mortaza had a faulty action: Sekar

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Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007
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Mortaza had a faulty action: Sekar

Special Correspondent

Chennai: Bangladesh pace spearhead Mashrafe Mortaza faced a career crisis three years ago, a faulty bowling action resulting in a knee problem.

Mortaza, whose four for 38 played a key role in his side's shock victory over India in the ongoing World Cup, was handed a lifeline by T.A. Sekar, the head coach of the MRF Pace Foundation.

Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Sekar recalled how the problem was fixed. "I was in Bangladesh and the then coach of the side, Mohsin Kamal, asked me to have a look at Mortaza's action. I realised that he was twitching the top half of his body to get into a side-on position."

Sekar elaborated: "You see a pace bowler is front on when he runs in. The transition to a side-on position, if he is a side-on bowler, has to be smooth. Mortaza was getting into a past side-on position where the back foot points towards mid-on at the point of delivery."

He then revealed how Mortaza's action was corrected - "The load-up has to be in line with the right shoulder instead of it being behind the head. A side-on bowler also needs to have the rock back and should pull his non-bowling arm down.

"We first made him bowl with a shorter run-up. He gradually increased his speed. He was not only bowling quicker, but was more accurate and was bowling out-swing. He was consistently clocking speeds above 135 kmph."

Lillee's tips

Mortaza visited the MRF Pace Foundation here, where pace legend Dennis Lillee too worked on his technique. Now, the 23-year-old Mortaza is a vastly improved paceman.

Sri Lanka's Dilhara Fernando suffered from a stress fracture of the back due to a mixed action. Said Sekar: "He came to the Foundation. We worked on his running technique. Now, he is a front-on bowler."

He said Chaminda Vaas had lost his inswinger to the right-hander a year ago. "The problem was corrected through video analysis."

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