Bangladesh’s 23-year old right arm off-spinner Sohag Gazi’s suspect bowling action may be studied by Indian coach Manjeet Singh. Manjeet is one of the coaches responsible for rectifying Abdur Razzak’s action when it was also reported by match officials in 2008 after a home series against New Zealand.
“I am keen to meet Gazi and also study his video footage before he is sent again for laboratory testing,” Manjeet said over telephone from Punjab.
“I will be in Bangladesh on October 27th for a week with my academy team and will meet the BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) officials. Nazmul Abedin, the BCB’s game development manager is my friend and I will request him to make Gazi’s video available,” he added.
According to Manjeet, who has coached Indian spinners like Harbhajan Singh and Venugopal Rao in the past, doosra is a sort of chucking. “Young bowlers have stopped mastering the art of spinning and are adopting shortcuts to make gains,” he said.
“Abdur Razzak was already an established player but got caught since Bangladesh cricket is more based on limited-overs rather than longer version. Not many longer version tournaments are played in Bangladesh like India where the Ranji Trophy is the base for developing batting and bowling skills.”
Manjeet has been the coach of Ranji Trophy side Punjab for six years and has also trained the region’s Under-22 and U-19 sides. He is running a cricket academy in Chandigarh. He also worked as a consultant for Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Pratisthan in two phases (2002-2005) and (2008-2011).
Manjeet believes bowlers with suspect actions should be tested during matches rather than being sent to laboratories. “The player becomes nervous when he is sent for testing. He also becomes over-cautious. This can be avoided if, with the same camera, their bowling action is scrutinised on the field itself in matches without being told to him,” he concluded.
