India’s discarded off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has come down heavily on Darrell Hair after the former ICC umpire picked out three Asian spinners, Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan), Harbhajan Singh (India) and Muthiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), as ‘role models for chuckers’.
“This is too much,” said Harbhajan. “We didn’t cross the limit but now Hair is ‘crossing the limit.
“Unka dimag theekane nahi (He seems to have gone mad),” the 35-year-old off-spinner added. “We were always within the permissible limit.
“Me and Muralitharan were cleared by the ICC more than once and why didn’t Hair object to my bowling thereafter?
Was it because he was feared of losing his job as an ICC umpire?” he queried. “We are not son-in-laws of the ICC.”
Harbhajan was tested and cleared twice in 1999 in England and in 2005 in Perth, Australia.
“The present day bowlers are trying to bowl the doosra which was invented by us,” continued Harbhajan. “It doesn’t necessarily mean they are bending arms more than the limit.
“The doosras can be bowled without bending the arms too much and the ICC has set a standard for bowlers using the latest technology.
“Hair should stop challenging the technology and better keep his mouth shut,” Harbhajan concluded.
There was a rumour in Australia that Hair may be assigned the advisory role before the next year’s World Cup. However, it is to be seen whether the ICC shows that bold step for the umpire who handed over his resignation after a much publicised fall out with the highest governing body of the game.
Bipin Dani
A Civil Engineer by profession, Bipin is also a senior cricket journalist in India.
He has toured UAE, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Malaysia, to name a few, and contributes to a large number of newspapers in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
His twitter bio reads: Eat cricket stories, drink cricket stories, sleep cricket stories.
He has toured UAE, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Malaysia, to name a few, and contributes to a large number of newspapers in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
His twitter bio reads: Eat cricket stories, drink cricket stories, sleep cricket stories.
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