Arafat Sunny, Taskin Ahmed reported for suspect action

It was more of a shock than surprise for Bangladesh after two of its bowlers, off-spinner Arafat Sunny and young fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, were reported for suspect bowling action during their team’s opening World T20 qualifier against the Netherlands at the HPCA Stadium here.

Both Sunny and Taskin (pictured) had bowled economically as Bangladesh secured a narrow eight-run win over the Dutch team on Wednesday.

It was more of a shock than surprise for Bangladesh after two of its bowlers, off-spinner Arafat Sunny and young fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, were reported for suspect bowling action during their team’s opening World T20 qualifier against the Netherlands at the HPCA Stadium here.

Both Sunny and Taskin had bowled economically as Bangladesh secured a narrow eight-run win over the Dutch team on Wednesday.

Even though the International Cricket Council (ICC) said the two players, who would go through independent testing at an ICC-accredited centre in Chennai, were free to continue bowling until the results of the test (which would come out within seven days) were known, it would put the duo and their team under immense pressure in its upcoming matches, including the one against Ireland on Friday.

Maintaining that Sunny and Taskin’s actions were clean, Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha expected his team to remain unruffled. “As bowlers they are strong enough to understand what they are doing is right. We also think that we have no concern. They have played so much cricket. It is a surprise for us. We have to take their (ICC’s) concerns. They are only concerns at this stage. I don’t think it will affect the way we are playing,” said Hathurusinghe on Thursday.

Bangladesh has the experience and depth to deal with the situation and the team will seek inspiration from its performance against the Netherlands to get another favourable outcome.

Confident Oman, downcast Ireland

Meanwhile, a downcast Ireland team, led by an experienced William Porterfield, will try to forget its below-par showing against Oman and give a more tidy show.

After its magnificent victory over Ireland, Oman is high on confidence and is eager to repeat its well-coordinated effort against Netherlands. The fact that Oman had defeated the Dutch side in the qualifying tournament last year would provide further boost to the morale of the Gulf nation.

With some fine players in its rank, the Netherlands has tried to move on from its first loss and perform better in the remaining matches.