Saeed Ajmal's debut in International Cricket
Saeed Ajmal is a name synonymous with quality spin bowling in today’s cricket scenario. With legends like Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble retired and Harbhajan Singh not playing anymore, Ajmal remains the only high-quality spin bowler (except maybe Rangana Herath) in operation in International cricket today. His age, sadly is more tough an opponent he faces than any batsman in the world right now. But now that this seasoned spinner is in full flow, we should not expect him to stop anytime soon. Let’s see when he debuted and how he fared when he did.
Saeed Ajmal, before making his debut in International cricket for Pakistan was a well-know name in the Pakistani domestic circuit. He played for Faislabad since the age of 18 and gave numerous stellar performances for his team before being called up for Pakistan. He played his first ODI for Pakistan on July 2nd 2008, in the Asia cup tie between India and Pakistan in which he bowled 10 overs, conceded 47 runs and took 1 wicket helping pakistan to win the match by 8 wickets.
In the next match he took 2 wickets, just giving away 19 runs, leading to a fantastic 10 wicket win over bangladesh. But Pakistan didn’t make it to the finals. He was later included in the squad in place of players who were banned due to being involved in the controversial Indian Cricket League. He played his first Test on 4-7 July 2009, against Sri Lanka taking 5 wickets in his first match itself, though Pakistan ended up losing the match by 50 runs.
After his late start (first Test at 32), he has never looked back, taking more than 400 wickets in nearly 5 years. The wily spinner is different than other off-spinners as he tends to be tad quicker in air, thus reducing turn and getting more LBWs due to a flatter trajectory. He has also mastered the art of sneaking in regular ‘Doosras’ in his bowling which are bowled with pin-point accuracy. His action was under scrutiny for some time but on being tested, he was found to bend his elbow under the prescribed 15 degree limit.
On being asked about his style he said "If I bowl with flight I cannot bowl well. If I bowl at a quicker speed I can then use variations in pace. If I take 70% of my wickets with the doosra why should I not bowl it? Whether you bowl a doosra or an offbreak, the ball should be bowled on the right line and one should take a wicket with it."
Ajmal is a very religious man and it was revealed in the spot fixing controversy in the series against England by Mazhar Majeed (alleged spot fixer) that Ajmal was too religious to be involved in fixing. He is also one of the most humble players in International Cricket. At the moment, Ajmal remains one of the best and most economical bowlers in international cricket and if he plays for some time more, it’s sure that he will get his name etched in the book of legends in golden words.