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Kolkata: Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar's bowling action is likely to be under scrutiny again. The Indian team seems to have expressed their unhappiness over his bowling action.
Though no player or team official was willing to comment about it, it is understood they have questioned the legality of his action and asked the India cricket board to take up the issue.
BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah tactfully avoided the issue by just saying: "We just want all bowlers, even Indians, who have been called for chucking earlier, to be periodically examined."
Not legal
Many feel that some of Akhtar's deliveries, which were bowled at 150kmph in the New Delhi Test match, were not legal.
The Pakistan team had asked for Rao Ifthikar as replacement for Umar Gul, who has been sent back to recover from his back injury. Unfortunately, Ifthikar ran into visa problems. It is understood that he had come to play in the one-dayers with a single entry visa and it is now impossible to get a visa to India immediately.
Interestingly, all members of the Pakistan team are on single-entry visa and if any player has to return to Pakistan for whatever reasons, he will not be able to rejoin the team immediately. As per the immigration rules, any Pakistani who has been granted a single entry visa cannot apply for another visa immediately to India. The Pakistan Cricket Board then decided to rush in Yasir Arafat in place of Gul.
Since Arafat had not toured India, he was easily granted visa.
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