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After Zimbabwe faced a heavy 220-run defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in the recently-concluded one-off Test in Harare, the home side came under a lot of criticism for their lackluster display. However, it is looking like that things have gone from bad to worse for Zimbabwe as one of their players has now been reported for a suspicious bowling action.
The bowler in question is Zimbabwe's right-arm off spinner Roy Kaia. The on-field umpires (Langton Rusere and Marais Erasmus) have reportedly mentioned about the same in their post-match report. "The match officials' report, which was handed over to the Zimbabwe team management, cited concerns about the legality of the 29-year-old off-spinner's bowling action," ICC said in a statement.
The cricket governing council added, "Video footage of Kaia's bowling action from the match will now be scrutinized by an Expert Panel as attendance and assessment at an ICC accredited testing centre is not possible due to various restrictions resulting from Covid-19."
Watch the video of Kaia's bowling action:
Kaia had a disappointing outing against Bangladesh
The home side went ahead with off-spinner Roy Kaia in the starting XI with the hope that the 29-year-old will be able to get some assistance from the Harare wicket. However, Kaia returned wicketless in the match and registered quite disappointing figures of 10-0-43-0 and 13-2-84-0 in both innings. To add salt to the wound, the 29-year-old got out on duck in both the innings to sum up a horror show in Harare.
With now his action also getting reported for illegality, things are certainly going downhill for the Zimbabwe cricketer who has only played 3 Tests and 1 ODI for his national side. The only positive news for Kaia right now is the fact that ICC will take some time to announce their verdict on the same and he will be allowed to bowl in international cricket till the time his action is being assessed and reviewed by an expert panel.