Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal withdraws from the World Cup

Saeed Ajmal
Saeed Ajmal

Saeed Ajmal announced that he won’t feature in the upcoming World Cup in Australia/New Zealand after he failed to correct his bowling action in time.

All the teams have to name their squad by the 7th of January and it was highly unlikely that Ajmal would be able to correct his action completely in order to be selected.

Ajmal’s bowling action was reported during a Test match in August against Sri Lanka. A month-long assessment deemed his action to be illegal and he was suspended from bowling in international cricket.

Another major blow to Pakistan ahead of the World Cup

Ajmal, 37, appeared before a PCB committee on December 27th before the news was made public.

This is another blow for Pakistan ahead of the World Cup as Mohammad Hafeez was also suspended from bowling because of a faulty action. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have decided to send Hafeez to Chennai for unofficial tests before applying for reassessment with the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“If Hafeez clears the informal test then we will apply to the ICC to hold his official test for his bowling action to be cleared,” the PCB said in a statement.

It is Ajmal’s decision: PCB Chairman

PCB Chairman, Shaharyar Khan said, “Ajmal has taken this decision all by himself as he has not been able to completely correct his action, and he will hold a press conference in a couple of days to announce his decision.

“The remedial work on his action will take some time so we are not sending him for an unofficial test.”

International Cricket Council (ICC) rule states that bowlers are allowed to bend their elbow by 15 degrees at the most. Ajmal’s tests, however, showed that his elbow flexed by 43 degrees.

Saqlain Mushtaq helped Ajmal to correct his action since. PCB’s request to ICC to test Ajmal’s action earlier this month was called off after unofficial tests revealed that his bowling would still be deemed illegal.

Head coach of Pakistan’s National Cricket Academy, Mohammad Akram, believes Ajmal’s decision is the right one.

He said, “Ajmal wants to play as the World No. 1 bowler and not someone who wants to hide for his action. Saqlain advised him to concentrate on cricket after the World Cup which he has accepted and withdrew from the World Cup.”

Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download Cric Rocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more!

Quick Links

Edited by Staff Editor