The International Cricket Council has issued the finalized shortlist of ICC Awards nominees for different categories including ICC Cricketer of the Year, ODI Cricketer of the Year, Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, Emerging Cricketer of the Year, People’s Choice Award, Umpire of the Year and several others.
It was quite shocking to see Saeed Ajmal been ignored for the ICC Cricketer of the Year and Player of the Year awards. The prolific right arm spinner, master of the doosra, has 120 international wickets – the most by any bowler between 4th August 2011 and 6th August 2012 (the considered period for the ICC Awards).
Ajmal also has 72 Test Wickets, again the most by any bowler, during this period. But the ICC didn’t even care to put him in the nominees and removed his name from the shortlist of the categories mentioned above. However, Kumar Sangakkara, Michael Clarke, Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander maintained their names for ICC Cricketer of the year nominees (same for Test).
The decision of discarding Ajmal’s name by the ICC from the honorable category has left many disgruntled and despaired and some have even termed it deliberate discrimination against the top Pakistani bowler. It is pertinent to mention here that Saeed Ajmal is currently placed at the third spot in both Test and ODI bowler rankings with rating points of 832 and 696, respectively. He is also ranked second in T20 bowler rankings and leaving him out from the ICC nominees list is beyond belief. The fact that he is in the top three in all formats of the game speaks volume about his quality and consistency. It’s high time that the ICC review their selection policy in order to prevent such horrendous omissions in the future and avoid criticism.
