Saeed Ajmal’s journey from illegal action to legalitimate bowler has been torturous, but for the neutral observer it has also painful to watch as he now bowls like a new boy in the nets of club cricket.
Ajmal was not alone the breaching of set protocols. Other culprits include West Indian Sunile Narine, Sri Lanka’s Sachitra Sennanayke, Bangladesh’s Sohag Gazi and Zimbabwe’s Prosper Utseya amongst others.
Before being found guilty by International Cricket Council (ICC) for using his elbow more than his shoulder when bowling – also known as ‘chucking’ – Ajmal was in the form of his life. But it took him eight months and some 12,000 overs in the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore to correct his action.
Ajmal traveled between England and Pakistan to work with likes of ‘doosra’ inventor Saqlain and various biomechanics’ experts as part of his assessment.
There was a real buzz around the Pakistan cricket team when Ajmal returned as the bowling attack was missing their cutting edge. However, the selectors failed to take into account that Ajmal had not been tested in any competitive cricket and he struggled to make inroads into a weak Kenyan team.
The Bangladeshi batsmen played Ajmal tentatively for first few overs in order to judge what sort of bowling they were up against with this new action. As a result they they were over-cautious and got out trying to play spin that just wasn’t being generated. Ironically Ajmal, like countryman Mohammad Hafeez, now picks up wickets because of lack of spin.
Once the likes of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rehman realized that Ajmal was not doing anything special they charged against him and took him to the cleaners. The off-spinner eventually registered his worstever ODI figures of 74 for no wicket in his 10-over quota. With the series already lost 2-0, Ajmal was rested for third ODI and Pakistan were whitewashed by Bangladesh for first time in history.
Once called ‘the magician’, Ajmal is now more mediocre and looks a shadow of his former self. It is difficult to witness the downfall of a bowler that once ruled the world of spin.
Former Test spinner Tauseef Ahmed feels that Ajmal is only a quarter the player that he used to be with his new action.
“Ajmal has not even looked half of what he was. To sum up I would say that Ajmal was 25% of what he was before the ban,” Tauseef said to Sport360.
“He should not have been selected without proper match practice under his belt. But now that he has been selected, he should be given a run in Test series as well against Bangladesh so that everyone can have a better idea over the future of the off-spinner.”
Tauseef, who played 34 Tests and 70 ODIs for Pakistan, feels that there are no other options available to Pakistan in the spin department.
“We don’t have a bowler of Ajmal’s quality right now in domestic cricket so we must groom others on the A-team tours. We have no option but to hope that either Ajmal regains his magical touch or that a new bowler with the X-factor emerges in domestic cricket,” he added.