Harbhajan on course for Pakistan series

Harbhajan Singh is likely to participate in the forthcoming series against Pakistan after a satisfactory stint with biomechanical analysts at the University of Western Australia.

Though the results of the biomechemical analysis are yet to be released officially, it is reliably learnt that Harbhajan's bowling action was found to be within the limits recently prescribed by the ICC. It is not immediately known if Harbhajan has significantly, if at all, remodelled his action.

Harbhajan had been reported for his action while bowling the doosra by the match referee, Chris Broad, during India's series against Bangladesh in December. He subsequently went to Australia for testing and, if required, corrective measures.

When contacted, Jon Long, an ICC spokesman, said that "under the process in which Harbhajan was reported the procedure is that we [the ICC] will receive a report from the player's home board, in this case the BCCI, approaching the end of the process they have undertaken. In this case the deadline is February 25. The ICC is in no way involved in the process that the home board undertakes."

However, the ICC could not confirm that Harbhajan had indeed been cleared at this juncture. "I wouldn't want to speculate on what the contents of the report will be," said Long. "Until we receive the report from the BCCI I can't make any comment on the outcome. These reports can vary in their contents depending on what the recommendations are."