Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya has been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to resume bowling at the international level after being banned in September 2019 for a year.
The 27-year-old was first held guilty of bowling with a suspect action in December 2018 but was later allowed to bowl from February 2019 with a remodelled bowling action. Six months later, he was once again halted from bowling after being reported in a Test match against New Zealand in 2019.
Such cases usually require the bowler and the experts to be in attendance at an ICC accredited centre to solve the issues with his/her action. However, COVID-19 restrictions forced the experts to study Dananjaya's bowling footage and make conclusions from the same.
ICC said in a release, "An Expert Panel studied video footage of Dananjaya's bowling action provided by Sri Lanka Cricket, as attendance and assessment at an ICC accredited centre was not possible due to various restrictions resulting from Covid-19."
"The panel concluded that the amount of elbow extension in his bowling action was within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations. To assist the Match Officials, they will be provided with the report, images and video footage of the bowler's remodelled legal bowling action." it read.
The Panadura-born cricketer has played 6 Tests, 36 ODIs and 22 T20Is for Sri Lanka so far and has managed to pick up 106 international wickets.
