Rajasthan Royals’ speedster, Kamran Khan, has been reported for a suspect action. This issue was raised by the on-field umpires for the Chennai-Rajasthan game; Rudi Baxter and Gary Baxter. The duo observed the bowler’s action along with the third umpire Ameesh Saheba and decided that his action needed to be scrutinised further.
Lalit Modi, the chairman of IPL, said, “The matter has now been referred to the team management of the Rajasthan Royals and the IPL’s technical committee as per the laws of cricket that govern our game.” On the other hand, Kamran’s captain, Shane Warne backed him totally and said that “Kamran has made a big impact in this IPL. He is a young man with a great work ethic and a huge appetite to learn.”
The Royals have already lost Sohail Tanvir, Shane Watson and Shaun Tait, and Kamran’s absence will be a huge body blow to them.
My take on issue: Continuing with the trend of producing fast bowlers aplenty, Shane Warne had seemed to discover another of that variety, and this can only help the Indian cricket in the long run. With the burden on the likes of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R.P. Singh and Munaf Patel beginning to tell, it is always a good option to have back-up arsenal and kamran could provide just that at the international level.
However, his action looked a little dicey right from the start and it was only a matter of time before an umpire reported it to the authorities. Not all is lost though, even if found guilty of an arm that straightens more than 15 degrees, he can take remedial measures and try and get back to cricket. All that is for later though, his injury issue will take higher priority at the moment.