Spinner Appanna called for throwing

Appanna was called by square-leg umpire MG Mandle on day three of Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy Super League tie against Saurashtra on Thursday. The left-arm spinner hadn’t been introduced into the attack until the 36th over of the day, but it didn’t take long for umpire Mandle to get into action as he no-balled him for throwing in the bowler’s fourth over of the spell.

It may be recalled that Mandle and R Subramaniam Iyer had spoken to skipper Robin Uthappa about Appanna’s action during Saurashtra’s first innings. The spinner had sent down 10.3 overs then but wasn’t officially ‘called’; the second innings wasn’t so kind, though it must be mentioned that he did send down 24 overs in the second knock and was penalised just once.

Appanna showed great character in keeping his focus despite being ‘called’, sending down a very good spell of 16-3-57-2. Indeed, out of 208 deliveries he has bowled in this game, only one has been deemed illegal by the umpires. Whether that is reason enough for him to be ‘called’ on the field of play is something the powers that be would do well to seriously consider.