Mohammad Hafeez opts to skip BPL to work on rectifying action after getting suspended by ICC

Karachi: Pakistan off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez has decided to skip the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and work on his faulty bowling action after the ICC suspended him from bowling with immediate effect. “I have decided to not go to Bangladesh to play for the Comilla Victorians and instead I will remain in Lahore and work on my bowling action before taking a biomechanics test again at a ICC-accredited laboratory,” Hafeez said. Hafeez was due to join the BPL franchise on 18 November. The batsman and part-time off-spinner had his bowling action reported for a third time by ICC match officials during last month’s limited-overs series with Sri Lanka in the UAE. [caption id=“attachment_3193942” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Pakistan all-rounder Mohammed Hafeez. AFP[/caption] He then appeared in a biomechanics test at a centre in England but the latest report which came out on Wednesday said he had failed the test and number of his deliveries were found illegal. The ICC made it clear in a press release that Hafeez could not bowl in international cricket until his action was cleared again. The former Pakistan captain, in fact, had only resumed bowling again last December after completing a 12-month ban and getting his action cleared in Brisbane. The ICC had banned Hafeez for a year from bowling in July, 2015 and before that also in December, 2014. The 37-year old said he was disappointed but not disheartened with the outcome of his latest test and was confident he could overcome the problem. “I will focus on why my action has been reported again and sort things out. For me the coming tour to New Zealand and the Pakistan Super League are very important. There is lot of cricket coming up with the national team next year,” he added. Pakistan’s top off-spinner, Saeed Ajmal whose flourishing career was also derailed in 2014 when his bowling action was reported by ICC match officials, is appearing in the National T20 Championship in Rawalpindi but has confirmed he will retire from all cricket after the event is over. Ajmal managed a comeback to the national team after the World Cup in 2015 with a remodelled bowling action, but has not been as effective since then. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is contemplating inviting a biomechanics expert or a former Test bowler to Lahore to work with Hafeez on his bowling action. Hafeez will be tested out at the biomechanics laboratory set up by the PCB at the LUMs university campus in Lahore. Sources say that Hafeez is well aware that at 37 if he is not allowed to bowl in international cricket than his career could come to a premature end with more competition for places in the Pakistan team.