Shoaib Akhtar Blown Away By Shiva Singh's 360-Degree Bowling Action

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar seems to have been impressed by Shiva Singh’s much-talked about 360-bowling action.

Shiva Singh has dominated the headlines for the last couple of days. And the reason behind it his unusual bowling action. His action was witnessed on the third day of a CK Nayudu Trophy match between Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. During Bengal’s second innings, Shiva jogged in and completed a 360-degree turn before delivering the ball. It was then followed by a drama as umpire Vinod Seshan promptly signalled dead ball. Not surprisingly, the bowlers as well as his teammates were left bemused.

And while the world of cricket has seen several weird bowling action, Shiva’s bowling action is new for everyone. Not surprisingly, it has created a big debate across the cricketing world. While many are expressing surprise over the action, the others are debating over whether the action is legal or not.

But amidst all this, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has given a different verdict. He took to Twitter to comment on the action and made it clear that it has impressed him.

“Wow what a 360 degree bowler .. never seen anything like that ..,” wrote Shoaib Akhtar.

Wow what a 360 degree bowler .. never seen anything like that .. https://t.co/rqEB0EzDAg

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) November 9, 2018

Meanwhile, Shiva Singh has revealed that it was not the first time he bowled like that and also revealed the conversation with the umpire.

“I use different variations in one-dayers and T20s. So I thought of doing the same because the Bengal batsmen were developing a partnership,” Shiva told ESPNcricinfo. “The umpires said dead ball. So I asked “why are you calling it a dead ball?”

“I delivered this 360-degree ball against Kerala in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well, where it was fine. Batsman always go for the reverse-sweep or the switch-hit against bowlers. But when bowlers do something like this it’s deemed a dead ball,” he added.