Kulamani Parida's action under scrutiny

The bowling action of Kulamani Parida, the veteran Railways spinner, has come under scrutiny after domestic officials cautioned the team management against bowling him. Parida has become the second spinner in two days to have his action questioned.

Parida was stopped from bowling on Tuesday during Railways game against Tamil Nadu in Delhi by the on-field umpires Anil Chowdhury and Suresh Shastri. The pair, along with the match referee S Rajesh, advised the Railways management that Parida could be called for chucking if he was used again in the match. This decision was taken after the officials reviewed match footage of Parida's action on the second day's play.

The footage has been sent to S Venkatraghavan, the director of the BCCI's umpiring committee, who will analyse the action and take a call on Parida's action.

Parida has expressed his disappointment at the implications of the officials' suggestions about him after a 13-year first-class career. "I have been playing for over 15 years, including junior cricket, and now they tell me my action is suspect," he told the Indian Express. "I am not an Under-22 player who is ready to go through anything because he wants to play for India one day. I am 32 years old now. If they tell me my action is not okay, I may just quit playing.

"I don't know how they've come to this conclusion. We were told that we can't see the footage. I am clueless as to why this was done."

Fellow Railways left-arm spinner and captain Murali Kartik was convinced Parida's action was fine. "If he chucked, he would've bowled the doosra," he said. "You have to bend your arm a bit to bowl a doosra, but he has never been able to do that. So he can't possibly be chucking."

Railways coach Abhay Sharma was also a perplexed man. "We have been put in a situation where we are a bowler short. We quizzed the umpires, but we were told that as per some new guidelines, we can't get any answers."