The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday took a u-turn on its stance of appealing against Saeed Ajmal’s suspension.
Soon after International Cricket Council (ICC) banned the top ranked ODI bowler with immediate effect, as his action was found illegitimate, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan stated that they would file an appeal. But now, according to media reports, PCB won’t appeal to ICC against the ban imposed on their prime bowler.
In fact, Khan has issued a statement, according to which the matter will now be referred to their own illegal bowling review committee. It means, now PCB will act according to recommendations they receive from the committee.
However, banned off-spinner Ajmal was looking confident to overturn his suspension on medical grounds.
Earlier, in their statement on Tuesday, ICC stated: “The International Cricket Council today confirmed that an independent analysis has found the bowling action of Pakistan’s off-spinner Saeed Ajmal to be illegal and, as such, the player has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect,” the ICC said in a statement.
The analysis of the 36-year-old’s action revealed that all his deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations. “Saeed, who was reported after the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle last month, can apply a re-assessment after he has modified his bowling action in accordance with clause 2.4 of the Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions,” the ICC statement read.
The analysis was performed on August 25 by the ICC’s accredited team of Human Movement Specialists at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane. Reported to match referee Andy Pycroft by on-field umpires Ben Oxenford and Ian Gould, Ajmal played the second match only to see his team lose the game and the series.
Ajmal has played 35 Tests for Pakistan, grabbing 178 wickets. His ODI record stands at an impressive 183 wickets from 111 matches. His 63 T20 appearances have yielded 85 wickets.
