Now, the doosra version

During the tests Elliott says, Harbhajan came with a new improved action that made both of them feel better and confident.

Elliott was one of the experts on the panel that suggested the new process whereby the maximum degree of tolerance was locked at 15. Elliott’s reaction comes just a day after the ICC sought to draw a fine line between being ‘satisfied’ and ‘clear’ about Harbhajan’s test last month.

Feeling sorry for Harbhajan who will have to undergo the whole process again, Elliott says that as per visual perspective and scientific procedure Bhajji’s doosra is ‘okay’. Elliot said he was keenly watching the new numbers for Harbhajan’s doosra.

Elliott on his part admitted that there sometimes maybe a disconnecting line between the tests in a lab and in match conditions but felt it was the best way ahead. ‘‘That’s always a debate. If the bowler bowls at the same speed and the same body position and all the variables are under control then the tests are the way to go. You couldn’t always be a 100 per cent sure because of errors in measurement, but it is the best of the two (lab and match).’’

Supporting Elliott’s assessment was former England fast bowler Angus Fraser who was part of an expert panel that suggested the new law of reviewing bowling actions.

Fraser told this paper that it was a big challenge to make sure any bowler bowls the same way in a lab as he would in a match-situation.

‘‘It is however difficult because in match situations you are desperately trying to push your body for that extra pace, extra spin so some things can happen,’’ Fraser says.

Harbhajan will now have to go through the new process that came into effect on March 1 and which Elliott admits is a ‘‘complicated’’ one. For one of the authors of the process, Fraser, though this system is better than the earlier one because the review process is being ‘‘centrally handled’’ by the ICC.

‘‘In the past the home board worked with players and whenever they felt satisfied the player would be back. But that didn’t seem the right way,’’ says Fraser.