Indian origin Aussie spin sensation Arjun Nair cleared of suspect action

Bengaluru, June 1: Australia's young mystery spinner Arjun Nair received a huge boost as Cricket Australia lifted the ban on him on Friday (June 1). CA had banned him after finding his action, modelled on West Indian spinner Sunil Narine, during the last year's Big Bash League.

The 20-year-old Arjun Nair, who plays for Sydney Thunder, was reported on December 30, 2017 against the Hobart Hurricanes and copped a three-month ban when his bowling action was deemed to be "markedly different" during a biomechanical testing.

Nair has since worked tirelessly with former Test spinner and Thunder assistant coach Beau Casson and Cricket NSW Pathways coach Anthony Clark to remodel his action.

Arjun opted to undergo a re-test in Brisbane last week (May 21) on his off-spinner and his carrom ball with the results showing his arm was within the 15 degrees of permitted tolerance.

It's a major relief for Arjun, who is highly-rated by CA youth coaches Ryan Harris and Greg Chappell. He will spend the next four weeks in Brisbane taking part in a month-long spin camp with the National Performance Squad.

Spin ace Nair has action cleared, reports @LouisDBCameron: https://t.co/KC3VJPvort pic.twitter.com/EY1Y0Tr1sf

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) June 1, 2018

"It was obviously a big blow," Arjun Nair told cricket.com.au. "I was very disappointed and it took me quite a while to get my head around it."Not just for me, but it was really hard for my family. My Dad is very involved with my cricket so I think he was more affected by it than I was.

"I worked with him on bowling a lot as well. After I'd finished bowling with Beau and Anthony, I went with my Dad and did some extras. I was always confident that I'd be able to fix it and return. I had a lot of support from NSW teammates and the Sydney Thunder," he said.

Arjun Nair had initially considered reaching out to Narine's mentor Carl Crowe but decided that Casson and Clark knew his action better than anyone.

"My coaches and I sat down and looked at my footage and the thing I noticed was that I didn't use much of my lower body," Arjun explained.

"So I had to engage my legs more in my action. That was the key. I've been looking at my arm path as well - just little things, but they made a big difference to my action. For me the challenge is now to maintain it. You see a lot of bowlers who have been in this position and had a problem, they come back and get reported again. I have to make sure I don't lapse and keep in the back of my mind that I have to keep being consistent."