Bangladesh spinner Sohag Gazi breathed a huge sigh of relief after the International Cricket Council yesterday declared his bowling action legal and cleared the 23-year-old to resume his international career.
“It feels like a 500kg weight has been lifted from my body,” were the first words that came out of the off-spinner, who has been instrumental behind Bangladesh’s successes in the past two years, upon hearing the news.
“I am very happy. I cannot even explain to you. I can console my parents as much as I can, but the fear within me was always there. If I had failed the test, I would have been set back by a year. I could not even imagine that. You should remember I requested the board to give me this re-test so it was always challenging to me,” he added.
Gazi’s bowling action was first reported during Bangladesh’s second one-day international in the three-match away series to the West Indies last August. He was later suspended from bowling on October 8 last year before Gazi was allowed to bowl in domestic cricket last November following remedial work on his action.
The right-arm spinner, who has a total of 64 international wickets, worked on his action with national spin bowling coach Ruwan Kalpage and Bangladesh Cricket Board computer analyst Salahuddin before appearing for the re-test on January 24 in Chennai.
“It was always about my footing. I am now bowling sideways, I should have done that earlier. Now I am bowling better, and with this modified action I have taken 17 wickets in the Dhaka Premier League and the eight-wicket haul in the NCL match I played last week. I am the same bowler,” he added.
However, the damage has already been done as Gazi, in the meantime, lost his central contract with the cricket board while he was also kept away from the 30-man World Cup preliminary squad.
The hard-working cricketer, who hails from Barisal, is looking beyond his missed chances as his biggest goal now is to retain his place in the Tigers line-up. He also said, “I hope to continue bowling well in the domestic competitions. Now I will bowl happily.”