Cricket Pulse

Watching off-spinner Mohnish Parmar bowl will surely remind one of Muttiah Muralitharan. For, the Gujarat bowler’s action resembles that of the Lankan legend.

Whether the resemblance or rather the comparison is a compliment or veiled criticism is debatable but Parmar continues to bear that trademark Murali label.

In the India A vs Australia A clash here, Parmar did well to rock the rival batting line-up picking up six wickets in the match, watched by national selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar. But the big question is whether Parmar was ready for the big journey.

Whether, having been reported for a suspect action earlier, he had been duly cleared to play? In fact, he was part of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) camp for bowlers with suspect action held in June this year. The campers were filmed and their action studied. Corrective measures were suggested and the bowlers were asked to return to the academy in a month’s time for further assessment.

Most intriguingly, Parmar was picked in the India A team touring Israel at that point and was not available for the second assessment, which went on for 14 days. According to the NCA, none of the bowlers in the camp were cleared as they underwent the corrective measures in “ideal, controlled conditions”.

So it was up to the cricket board to convey to the match referees and umpires that the bowlers concerned needed to be scrutinized further under match conditions. “We are not decision makers. We are only a recommending authority,” said an official at NCA.