After Veragi, Pawar called for suspect action

A day after their pace bowler Salim Veragi was called twice for a suspect action, Baroda suffered another blow when left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar was called for chucking during the second day's play of their Ranji Trophy Super League match against Delhi.

On the first day, when Veragi was called twice, Pawar bowled without being called. But Umpire Vishwas Nerurkar deemed his fourth delivery on the second day illegitimate and called it a no-ball. "The umpires found his action improper on the second day and hence they called him in the first over itself," match referee Sunil Chaturvedi told the Times of India. "May be that time he didn't chuck."

This turn of events added to an inauspicious beginning for Baroda. On the opening day, Veragi's action came under scrutiny after he was no-balled twice. His action will now be reviewed by a three-member committee comprising Javagal Srinath, AV Jayaprakash and S Venkatraghavan.

"The bowler will be reported to the BCCI after the first time that he's called," match referee Sunil Chaturvedi said. "He can, however, continue to bowl until he's called three times in the same innings. He will then be taken off for the remainder of that innings."

Veragi's action has been questioned before. On his debut in January 2008 in the Ranji semi-finals, also against Delhi, the opposition had lodged an official protest with the BCCI over the legality of his action.

Veragi has taken 21 wickets so far in seven first-class matches. He is one of four Baroda bowlers on the BCCI's 'watch list' of those with suspect actions; the others are left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar, left-arm medium-pacer Sankalp Vohra and medium-pacer Sumit Singh.