Mumbai: Until now, Darrell Hair - the former ICC umpire - was known to be solely critical of Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action but now, in his 360-page book (The Best Interest of the Game), the Australian has made sensational revelations about suspect bowling actions of other Asian bowlers too.
"Bowlers like Harbhajan Singh and Shoaib Akhtar will always have suspect actions," Hair told MiD DAY from Sydney on Tuesday morning.
"Harbhajan, when attempting to bowl the doosra or impart over spin, starts with a bent arm before straightening his arm considerably while releasing the ball. Similarly, Shoaib's yorker ball changes his action to well past a 'front on' delivery stride. Therefore, it's almost impossible for him to keep his arm straight.
"I reported Harbajhan and Shoaib while umpiring; ICC must have lost record," he said.
The other bowlers (with suspect actions) he has named in his book are ” Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez, Bangladesh's Abdur Razzaq and South Africa's Johan Botha. Interestingly, all these bowlers had been reported for their action at some stage. Harbhajan was sent to Fred Titmus' school in England to seek advice several years ago.
"I wrote the book because I believe there is poor governance of international cricket," he added. The cover of the book contains Hair's altercation with Inzamam-ul-Haq during the 2006 Oval Test
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