In cricket, illegal bowling action refers to be throwing or chucking. It means a bowler is deliberately straightening his arm while delivering the ball. According to MCC Cricket Laws, a bowler can bend his arm up to 15 degrees while bowling. If it exceeds that comes under illegal bowling action. In the cricket world, most of the time, spin bowlers break this law and get banned. Especially when they try different variations like doosra and teesra, spin bowlers tend to disregard this 15 degrees law.
However, ICC banned a few cricketers previously for illegal bowling action, and the list consists of some massive names from International cricket. But in some cases, the ban has lifted after they remedial their illegal bowling action. However, there are many instances that some famous players have missed a more significant part of their International career due to this reason. So in this article, let’s look at the list of Top 10 famous bowlers banned due to illegal bowling action in International cricket.
Top 10 Famous Bowlers Banned Due Illegal Bowling Action
10. Sachithra Senanayake (Sri Lanka)
The Sri Lankan spin bowler got into trouble when he was throwing the cricket ball back in 2014. In June of that year, he bowled some delivers by bending his bowling arm more than 15 degrees in a one-day international against England. The umpires later complained to the ICC about his illegal bowling action. Then ICC tested his bowling action and concluded that Sachitra was bowling illegally. Also banned him from international cricket. However, Sachitra corrected his bowling action with the help of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board and tested his bowling action again in December of the same year. Then ICC was satisfied with his bowling action and lifted the ban on him.
9. Shabbir Ahmed (Pakistan)
The Pakistani fast bowler was banned from cricket for 12 months for throwing in 2005. However, primarily spin bowlers have caught while doing chucking. But in a Test match against England, the umpires noticed that Shabbir was bowling against the rules. The ICC banned him for 12 months after analyzing his bowling action. It was the first time in cricket history that a bowler got banned for 12 months due to his illegal bowling. Shabbir later corrected his illegal bowling action but didn’t get enough to play for his national team. He announced his retirement in 2013 after playing some domestic cricket.
8. Johan Botha (South Africa)
The South African spin bowling all-rounder faced this illegal bowling action obstacle when he made his Test debut against Australia in 2006. The ICC banned him from bowling in International Cricket. However, Botha corrected his bowling action in the same year and started bowling again. But Botha reported again in 2009 when the umpires caught him while throwing. The ICC has confirmed that he is chucking, especially while trying the doosra variation. With that, ICC has banned his doosra variation. Again when Botha was playing domestic cricket in 2013, the umpires once again reported his bowling action. However, Botha corrected his bowling action shortly and resumed playing cricket as usual.
7. Sohag Gazi (Bangladesh)
Umpires reported the Bangladeshi spin bowler in violation of ICC rules in 2014. Sohag’s bowling action has suspected during a one-day match against the West Indies. Due to this, he dropped from the Bangladesh team after that one-day series against the West Indies. ICC officials who have checked his bowling action concluded that every ball bowled by Sohag was against the rules. The ICC banned him from international cricket. However, he played domestic cricket with BCB permission, corrected his bowling action in 2015, and passed the ICC Test. But sadly, he didn’t get enough chances to play for his country.
6. Shane Shillingford (West Indies)
The West Indies spin bowler has been banned twice for chucking. Earlier, in a domestic Test match against Guyana in 2010, umpires reported that his bowling action was against the rules. The West Indies Cricket Board checked his bowling action and banned him in December of that year. However, Shillingford corrected his illegal bowling action in 2011. But during a Test match between the West Indies and New Zealand in 2013, his bowling action has reported again. Then ICC tested his bowling action and concluded that he was chucking. With that, he got banned once more. But later, Shillingford changed his bowling style and could not last long for the West Indies.
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5. Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan)
The Pakistani all-rounder got banned for 12 months for his illegal bowling action. Hafeez’s bowling has reported during a Test match against New Zealand in 2014. Hafeez remodeled his bowling action to satisfy the ICC and started bowling again. However, in a Test match against Sri Lanka in the following year, he again complained about his illegal bowling action. The ICC banned Hafeez from bowling for 12 months.
Hafeez, who played for Pakistan as a pure batsman, corrected his bowling action again and started bowling in 2017. However, at the end of the same year, there was another complaint about his bowling action. He also failed a test conducted by the ICC. With that once again imposed a ban on his bowling. However, he remodeled his bowling action again in 2018 and playing as an all-rounder for Pakistan.
4. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
The number one bowler in the history of international cricket, who took more than 1000 wickets, faced many difficulties in 1995. In the Boxing Day Test against Australia, umpire Darrell Hair started signaling no balls when Muralidharan was bowling. Seven times in a row, Murali got a no-ball signal. At some point, Sri Lanka captain Arjun Ranatunga walked out of the field with his team.
However, the match continued for a while as the clash subsided. But Hair, who gave an open statement after the game, said he would always grant a no-ball whenever Murali bowled. Then ICC conducted a biochemical analysis on Muralitharan’s bowling action. In that analysis, ICC had stated that because Muralitharan’s bowling hand has bent, it creates an illusion of chucking when he was bowling. Murali, who got banned for a few matches due to a hair complaint, resumed his bowling in international cricket in 1996.
3. Sunil Narine (West Indies)
The West Indies batsman, who once turned the cricket world on his side with his mystery spin bowling, has been caught while chucking in many instances. Earlier in the Champions League in 2014, Narine was twice accused of bowling action. Umpires reported that he was bowling against the Rules. Also, Narine’s bowling was suspected during IPL 2015 and later a one-day match against Sri Lanka in the same year.
But Narine, who faced a ban for a few games, corrected his bowling action and started bowling again. However, in 2018, once again, there was a complaint about his illegal bowling action. The umpires also complained about his bowling action during a league match between Kolkata and Punjab in IPL 2020. However, Narine is always willing to remedial his bowling action from time to time to satisfy the ICC.
2. Harbhajan Singh (India)
In a Test match against Bangladesh in 2005, a doosra variation of Harbhajan Singh caused him trouble. Aleem Dar and Mark Benson, the umpires in the game, reported that the doosra thrown by Bhajji was against the rules. Also, unofficially they stated that he was bowling by bending his elbow up to 22 degrees. However, Harbhajan Singh worked out on his bowling action with the help of the Western University of Australia. Then he corrected his bowling action when throwing the doosra. He also passed the ICC Test and continued his bowling without any difficulty.
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1. Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan)
The Pakistani bowler caught while he was chucking in 2014 still hasn’t rectified his bowling action. Ajmal’s bowling has suspected during a Test match against Sri Lanka. The ICC analyzed his bowling action and concluded that Ajmal was bowling against the rules and banned him. However, after a while, he corrected his bowling action and did not have much success. Once again, he bowled in an old-fashioned way and once again faced a ban.
After that, Ajmal could not rectify his bowling action, and he stayed away from cricket. Ajmal had announced his retirement from cricket in 2017. But the twist here is that Ajmal, who reacted to his illegal bowling action in 2020, predicted that he would win if he filed a case against the ICC in court.
There are few more incidents when bowlers were caught with illegal bowling action and got banned. I hope that this article was helpful. Thank you for reading ?