The trouble started for him in 2014 when his action was picked up during the Champions League T20 and during a Test match against New Zealand. It was found that his elbow was bending more than the permissible 15 degrees. His bowling was stopped for the moment by the team but it again became a problem the very next year and ICC had to suspend him from bowling off-spin for 12 months. He tried bowling after a year and the issue hadn’t resolved either and the repetition cause yet another suspension in October 2017.

Hence, when Hafeez finally got the permission from ICC earlier this year in April and eventually another national call-up, he had to tread on a thin line. And he finally seemed to have got things right as he has so far, bowling 19 overs in one Test and six T20Is against Australia and New Zealand, without drawing any attention.

"I will say that Taylor's action was not correct. It's not his job to give (the) action which was shown on TV. It was disgraceful, for me. His job is to do batting and if he concentrates on that, it's better. I complained to umpires that his action did not come under sportsmanship. Ross is a professional cricketer and he should not have done that. He did it two or three times - it's (the) umpires' job. Hafeez's action has no problem and (Taylor) was trying to create an issue without a reason," said Sarfraz after the first ODI, reported ESPNCricinfo.