Sohag Gazi is confident of returning to bowling in international cricket quickly after remodelling his bowling action, which was deemed illegal by the ICC last week. He will begin work on his action within a week, with the BCB hoping to appoint an independent coach to help the offspinner.
BCB’s cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan met Gazi on Saturday for the first time since the ICC announced the suspension. Mohammad Salahuddin, the coach who monitored Abdur Razzak during his suspension in 2008-09, also had a meeting with Akram and Gazi. Salahuddin is a coach at a Malaysian university and was in Dhaka on Eid vacation when Akram asked to meet him. He returns to his job tomorrow, but Akram has asked him do draw up a schedule to work with Gazi by next month.
Gazi believes that he will not even take as long as Razzak did – from end October 2008 to March 2009 – to return to bowling in internationals. He said that apart from being randomly tested in South Africa in 2011 and being reported by an umpire in Bangalore in 2012 (after which there was no official report), he was never told of anything being suspect in his bowling action. He said that his leading foot while landing could be the basis of the issue, as it hinders the balance of his body.
“The suspension has come upon me so the harder I work, the quicker I will return,” Gazi said. ‘I don’t think it will be a problem; I don’t think I will need as long as three months. I have heard that I have [averaged] 25 degrees, which is being considered to be not so much.
“I have done many spin camps but no one really told me that they see a problem with my action. There was something wrong with my feet while landing, which hampered my body balance. I think generally that’s one crucial area that I will work on.”
Asked about how he was so confident of a quick return, Gazi said he was offered “assurance”, but did not explain in detail. “I will always have this confidence. I am a mature guy, so I know when I am overconfident,” he said. “I don’t think I am being overconfident, because I know that if I am that way, things will go in the opposite direction.
“I think I have the confidence because I was given some sort of assurance. I was shown video footage in Cardiff – of the test and the match in which I was reported. They matched the two and told me that if they are close, it is enough [for me to play]. They told me that the two are quite close.”
Gazi said he still understood the need to be thorough and smart with the remedial work, though. “If I can’t pitch the ball properly by changing my action, I will slowly recede from the picture. So I will try to keep both in mind, the action and that I can perform well with the remodelled action.”
