Mohammad Hasnain cleared to bowl in international cricket after tweaking his action
Pakistan's pace bowler Mohammad Hasnain has been cleared to bowl again in international cricket following a recent assessment of his bowling action. He bowled three overs under supervision to prove his bowling action was legitimate.
As per reports in ESPN Cricinfo, the 22-year-old's elbow extension dropped from 17-24 degrees to a permissible limit of 12-13 degrees.
Hasnain was reported for faulty bowling action during the Big Bash League (BBL) earlier this year. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) conducted his tests at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, an ICC-accredited testing laboratory, on January 21. His bowling action was confirmed to be illegitimate and was also verified by Cricket Australia's independent expert.
Even though the youngster was eligible to bowl in Pakistan's domestic cricket, the PCB decided against it. Instead, Umar Rasheed, its high-performance coach, was tasked to work on Hasnain's bowling action at Lahore's High-Performance Centre.
Umar Rasheed worked on a consistent and repeatable action for Mohammad Hasnain
Umar Rasheed worked on correcting Mohammad Hasnain's action. An initial assessment revealed that he was bending his arm to swing the ball. Also, to bowl fast, the pacer was landing inconsistently giving him trouble with his alignment.
Rasheed helped Mohammad remodel his actions slightly, which helped him get the right alignment and correct the elbow bend. His new bowling action remains the same despite his wrist, arm rotation and landing. Hasnain has gone through the hard yards and bowled over 5,000 deliveries under Rasheed's guidance to get his action right.
Umar Rasheed has ascertained that the cricketer is stronger than ever and seems quite confident that his new action is repeatable.
Mohammad Hasnain has represented Pakistan in eight ODIs and 18 T20Is thus far. He picked up 12 wickets in the 50-over format of the game. In the 20-over format, he has accounted for 17 scalps, including a hat-trick.
Hasnain hasn't participated in any competitive cricket since his suspension. It will be interesting to see if he will be able to deliver 145 kmph consistently like before with his remodelled bowling action.