Another controversy has stirred up IPL 2024. Chennai Super Kings bowler Maheesh Theekshana has caught everyone’s attention for a apparently “chucking” deliveries while bowling to Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Fans saw a change on his bowling action and took to social media to point out.
On multiple occasions, the Chennai Super Kings spinner was spotted changing his releasing point before delivering the ball. RCB fans immediately were enraged given that chucking is an illegal bowling action in the sport. Some have even drawn parallels with Sunil Narine.
The West Indies bowler had to change his bowling action after he was reported by the umpires to the ICC. Video proof from Theekshana showed the bowler changing his release action right before the delivery. To the naked eye it looks as if the Lankan spinner is throwing the ball at the batter, in this case Virat Kohli.
What does ICC Laws say about this?
An Illegal Bowling Action is where a player is throwing rather than bowling the ball. This is defined by the ICC as being where the player’s elbow extends by an amount of more than 15 degrees between their arm reaching the horizontal and the ball being released. Match Officials in international cricket use the naked eye and their cricketing experience to decide whether they believe a player may be using an Illegal Bowling Action and, if so, they will submit a report.