After India visa delay, PCB requests ICC for Mohammad Hafeez’s test date extension
With Mohammad Hafeez still waiting to get his Indian Visa stamped, the Pakistan Cricket Board has requested the ICC to extend the off-spinner’s testing date of July 4 after his action was found suspect during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.
The former national T20 skipper’s pending Visa has delayed his availability to be present at the ICC accredited testing center in Chennai.
“With the extraordinary circumstances, we have requested the ICC to give a new date,” Pakistan’s team manager Nadeem Akram Cheema told ESPNcricinfo.
“We have tried everything to make sure he had his test within 14 days but the visa hasn’t been granted by the Indian embassy here in Colombo. We have asked for another date between third Test and ODI series,” he added.
According to ICC regulations, Hafeez is allowed to bowl until the results of the tests are out. He did squeeze in 14 overs in the second Test in Colombo, which Pakistan lost by seven wickets, and has travelled to Pallekele for the third match starting July 3.
Hafeez was reported for a second offence, in the last two years, on June 21 and faces a one-year suspension from bowling if his elbow flex is found to be over the permissible 15-degree mark.
Hafeez had also been reported in November last year and then banned from bowling in December because he was found to have an elbow extension as high as 31 degrees. After a delay due to injury, Hafeez was cleared to bowl only this April following tests in Chennai.
