February 07, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 28, 1429

NEW DELHI, Feb 6: The Indian cricket board has identified bowlers in the domestic circuit with suspect bowling actions, and is compiling a list of the same, and is likely to send them to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) to rectify their actions.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, 13 bowlers were deemed to have suspect actions during the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy season, when they were seen on video cameras installed to aid the umpires’ coaches.

“While going through the video footage for assessing the umpires’ performance, S Venkataraghavan [the BCCI’s director of umpires and former India captain] has noticed some bowlers with suspect actions,” Ratnakar Shetty, the board’s chief administrative officer, told the newspaper.

“The list is being compiled and if it is felt that these bowlers require assistance, they will be sent for correcting their action to the NCA,” he said.

Surprisingly, some of the bowlers identified are representing their zonal teams in the ongoing Duleep Trophy, but Shetty said: “The main problem is that they haven’t yet been formally reported by the umpires, so we cannot stop them from playing. But after the final assessment of the footage of all the matches, if it is felt that their actions need to corrected, they will have to go through the procedure.”

The last bowler to be identified with a suspect action was Rajesh Sharma, the Punjab off-spinner, whose career was temporarily put on hold in the 2006-07 season.

Sharma eventually joined the Indian Cricket League last year and took three wickets in two games for the Chandigarh Lions.—Agencies