5 Bowlers with controversial bowling actions

Bowlers with illegal actions has been a menace that cricket administrators have been trying to deal with for a long time. Certain bowlers, even after successfully undergoing bio-metric analysis to prove the legality of their actions, have been questioned and termed as “Chuckers”. Here is a list of 5 bowlers with the most controversial actions in World Cricket.

1. Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan

Probably the most spoken about. Muralitharan was even no-balled by Darrell Hair for chucking. However, on the ICC’s insistence, Murali underwent successful tests to prove that his action was legal, and that he was playing within the rules of the game. To his doubters, he even released a video of him bowling every delivery in his repertoire with a brace on his arm that prevented it from bending.

Controversy never left Murali alone though, as past greats often questioned his action repeatedly, not least Bishen Singh Bedi.

2. Saeed Ajmal

Saeed Ajmal

Ajmal’s sudden rise to prominence since 2008 has been attributed by many people to the fact that he has an action which is not adhering to the Laws of the Game. Ajmal’s most potent weapon, his doosra was the delivery that was most often questioned, and Indian coach Darren Fletcher even once came out in the media declaring his displeasure at the fact that Ajmal was being allowed to get away, even without undergoing any tests, on a suspect action.

3. Marlon Samuels

Marlon Samuels

Like Muralitharan, Samuels has also fallen under the ICC Radar several times. Samuels’s off-spinner was deemed to be legal, but it was his quicker delivery that was the cause for concern. Many experts expressed their surprise at the pace with which Samuels at times delivered the ball, saying that it would not be possible to bowl that fast from that short a run-up with a normal bowling action. The ICC banned him from bowling the quicker one in 2011, but after he underwent remedial action, he came back into bowling that delivery.

However, last month, he was pulled up again, and this morning, the ICC has again benned him from bowling the quicker delivery.

4. Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar

One of the few fast bowlers whose action was always under the Radar. In the mid-90s, Akhtar’s action was the talk in many a cricket programme. That was mainly because of the amount of pace that he could generate. However, like Murali, Akhtar underwent tests and proved that his action was legal, and that there were no chinks in his arm beyond the permissible limit.

5. Shane Shillingford

Shane Shillingford

The latest one to fall in the ICC’s trap for bowlers with illegal action. Shillingford’s action came under the scanner during the West Indies’s 2-Test Series in India, where he ended up with 12 wickets from 2 innings. However, it was decided that Shillingford’s doosra was bowled with his arm bent beyond the permissible limit. After reviewing the results of the tests that Shillingford has to undergo, the ICC deemed his action illegal and has banned him from bowling till remedial action is taken.