Muhammad Hafeez allowed to bowl in domestic T20s

The 34-year-old will bowl for Lahore Whites in Pakistan's Twenty20 competition

Pakistan allrounder Muhammad Hafeez will bowl in Pakistan's domestic competitions despite being banned from bowling at the international level for an illegal action.

Hafeez was handed a 12-month ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in July however; he will bowl for the Lahore Whites in the country's Twenty20 competition.

Lahore Whites will be playing their first match today, September 8, against Islamabad Region at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

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Despite the international ban, Hafeez can bowl in domestic cricket after getting approval from the relevant authorities, which luckily the cricketer was able to obtain.

"A bowler suspended in international cricket can bowl in domestic cricket with the permission of his home board," said an ICC official, as quoted by Cricket.com.au.

"The logic behind this provision is to allow the home board and the player concerned the opportunity to monitor improvement in his bowling action in a match situation, and when happy, apply for reassessment."

Hafeez was first reported for a suspect bowling action in November 2014 when Pakistan was playing Tests against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi. Subsequently, he was suspended from bowling in December after assessments at the Loughborough University in Leicestershire, but was cleared in April after re-testing at Chennai's Sri Ramachandra University.

However, his action was once again under suspicion after Pakistan's Test against Sri Lanka in Galle in June and ‘the Professor’ had to visit the Chennai facility again, where testing revealed his elbow extension was beyond the 15-degee limit, incurring the 12-month ban.

Although Hafeez cannot get his action retested until the ban is over, however the silver lining is that the 34-year-old can bowl in domestic competitions with permission.

The PCB's permission means Hafeez, who continues to be ranked number 2 in the ICC's official ranking of T20 allrounders, will also be eligible to bowl in the much-awaited Pakistan Super League (PSL) next February in Doha.

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As a former T20 captain of Pakistan and one of the country's most experienced players in the format, he is expected to captain one of the five super league teams.