The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : The obsession with speed has made us forget the art of swing

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The obsession with speed has made us forget the art of swing

Why are bowlers with suspect action not ‘called’ by umpires on the field, asks Makarand Waingankar

When the choice is between speed and swing, the cricketing fraternity often falls for the former. But why bowlers with suspect action are not called by the umpires on the field and are reported to the authorities for them to ban the bowler until the action is rectified is something that needs to be explained. The Gujarat off-spinner Mohnish Parmar, despite history of being reported after every season, was eventually sent to Australia when the experts at the NCA could not rectify his action.

And when he returned from Australia, he was allowed to play a couple of matches for his state before the BCCI’s Bowling Action Committee banned him from playing any of the domestic tournaments.

Creating havoc

Knowing fully well that Parmar has a suspect action that is creating havoc on any pitch, he was still allowed to continue. He did take more than 40 wickets in the 2008-09 season. In fact, there are more than a dozen chuckers in the list of the BCCI. Funnily many of them continued to play for their respective states.

Now the latest sensation Kamran Khan of Rajasthan Royals has a suspect action according to some international umpires. Are we to believe that Shane Warne is ignorant about this and by hyping him much before the IPL began, he has not put the umpires under pressure?

We are so obsessed with speed that the art of swing is forgotten. It’s the speed that the coaches are looking for and when Kamran bounced a few outright chucking deliveries in the selection trials of the Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai, the team coach Darren Berry did not seem to be concerned about his action.

Kamran’s chucking action is allowed by the umpires in the IPL possibly because in a tournament that is supposed to provide entertainment, organisers don’t want any controversy.

But doesn’t the bowler with a suspect slinging action gain the advantage? If the Director of Umpires Srinivas Venkatraghavan finds nothing wrong with Kamran’s action then all others in the list of suspect action too should be allowed to play.

Parmar’s case

Why can’t Parmar, who is contracted with the Kolkata Knight Riders, be allowed to play?

There is also confusion about the IPL not using the VJD (V. Jayadevan’s method) in the tournament. The technical committee of the BCCI has approved this system to be used in the domestic tournaments. The IPL being one, this system ought to have been used but it’s the Duckworth-Lewis method which is preferred.

The umpires’ fraternity is not too keen on taking on the establishment. It is the responsibility of the organisers with Pataudi, Gavaskar and Shastri sitting in the IPL governing council, to act on cricketing matters before a major controversy erupts. Turning a blind eye will only aggravate the problem.

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