The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday declared the bowling action of Pakistan’s spin wizard Saeed Ajmal as ‘legal’, according to a tweet issued by cricket’s governing body.
“At the retests, it was revealed that the amount of elbow extensions in both the off-spinners’ bowling actions for all their deliveries was within the 15-degree level of tolerance,” the ICC said in a statement.
“The umpires are still at liberty to report Saeed Ajmal and Sohag Gazi in the future if they believe they are displaying a suspect action and not reproducing the legal actions from the retests.”
Saeed Ajmal was suspended from bowling after the ICC had declared his action as illegal in September 2014. He was initially reported for a suspect action during a Test match against Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh’s Sohag Gazi was banned over an illegal bowling action in October 2014 after he was reported in a match against the West Indies in August 2014.
Ajmal, who had undergone biomachanic tests in Chennai on Jan 24, is now clear to play international cricket but his inclusion in the Pakistan squad for the upcoming World Cup remains unlikely.
Earlier during the week, a key Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official had said that the Pakistan Team Management had responded by saying that, “We don’t need Ajmal even if he gets cleared by the ICC for his bowling action,” when the proposal was forwarded by PCB.
Confident of having his bowling action cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after undergoing an official test last month Ajmal had ruled himself out of Pakistan’s World Cup plans.
Under the ICC rules all teams can replace a player before the Feb 7 deadline, a week before the World Cup starts.
Pakistan will play its first match against title-holders India in Adelaide on February 15.
Now what!! would he be available for the WC15 although not having played for this long?
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