‘We are fair in dealing with all our members,' says Mani

The International Cricket Council has denied reports that they were biased towards subcontinental players with regard to scrutinising bowling actions. Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, has countered those allegations and said that the ICC has always been unbiased while dealing with the chucking issue.

"We are pretty fair in dealing with all our members and the question of targeting a player of an particular country doesn't arise at all," Mani told The Khaleej Times. "The new rule which allows a bowler to straighten his arm up to 15 degrees is working well. The old laws effectively allowed spinners to legally straighten their arms by five degrees. The measurement was set at 7.5 degrees for medium pacers and 10 for fast bowlers.

"However, the ICC found those measurements was all-undetectable to the naked eye so they recommended the levels be standardised at 15 degrees, the first point at which it is visible to the naked eye."

Bowlers like Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh, Shoaib Akhtar and Shoaib Malik, all from the subcontinent, were been reported for having a suspect bowling action, but Mani insisted that the umpires hadn't got it wrong while reporting these players. "Shoaib Malik was cleared only when he completely changed his action," he said. "I am glad that he remodelled his action and is now allowed to bowl."