Three Mumbai players — left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar, off-spinner Ankush Jaiswal and part-time off-spinner Akhil Herwadkar — have been reported for bowling with a suspect action in the Ranji Trophy.
Dabholkar, who is Mumbai’s highest wicket-taker this season with 27 sticks, and youngster Jaiswal, who picked five wickets on his first-class debut last week, have thus been dropped from the squad for the team’s final Ranji Trophy Group B game against Gujarat starting on Tuesday. Herwardkar, who is primarily an opening batsman, is still in the mix.
The Hindu understands that Dabholkar, whose action was under the scanner in the last two seasons as well, and Jaiswal underwent tests at the state-of-the-art Sri Ramachandra Arthroscopy and Sports Sciences Centre in Chennai on Friday.
According to a Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) functionary, Dabholkar and Vishal were reported because one particular delivery they bowled suggested that they broke the much-criticised 15-degree rule. “Both Vishal and Ankush tend to bend the arm beyond the permissible limit when they push the ball hard. Let’s not use the word ‘suspect’. These are young boys. This is just a precautionary measure to correct the fault. Let’s use the word ‘rectify’,” he said.
According to the official, the selection committee did not pick the duo for the upcoming Ranji game against Gujarat because it fears they may be called for chucking. “There’s a huge risk, you see. The authorities have reported them. It’s our prerogative to help them get over this phase. All they need is some remedial work. Mumbai head coach Chandrakant Pandit and bowling coach Omkar Salvi accompanied the boys to Chennai,” he added.
Meanwhile, injured senior pros Abhishek Nayar and Dhawal Kulkarni have been ruled out of the Gujarat tie. Left-arm spinner Dhrumil Matkar and wicketkeeper-batsman Sufiyan Shaikh have been selected.
THE SQUAD: Aditya Tare (capt. & wk), Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Patil Jr., Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Jay Bista, Balwinder Singh Sandhu Jr., Badre Alam, Abhishek Raut, Iqbal Abdullah, Dhrumil Matkar, Sufiyan Shaikh.
