Pakistan’s off-spinner, Saeed Ajmal was ecstatic on Saturday thanks to a return in the national team after a torturous span of eight long months.
The 37 year old enigmatic spinner, who was ruled out from all the formats of the game citing illegal action last year in Sri Lanka, has been recalled to the national side for all the 3 formats in their upcoming tour of Bangladesh.
A bio-chemical analysis had confirmed that his bowling action went beyond the 15 degree limit set by the International Cricket Council which led to his suspension from all international formats of the game.
Ajmal reckons that it was the most difficult period of his entire cricketing career. He also felt that time with no cricket was an absolute torture for him, as reported by the AFP.
After the suspension, Ajmal went for rehabilitation measures and under the assistance of Pakistan’s ace veteran, Saqlain Mushtaq, he worked on all the anomalies and triumphantly cruised through the reassessment test that took place this February.
He was devoid of adorning the national jersey for the mega event World Cup, where Pakistan fought their way till the quarter finals before they succumbed to eventual champions, Australia.
He felt pained when he viewed the World Cup on television and wanted to break in the TV set and play the game. He believed that the team thoroughly missed his services during the event because he has always been a fantastic powerplay bowler and also has the capability to give important breakthroughs at the time of crisis.
Though, he admitted to being in constant touch with the skipper and the team mates during the tough times and tried his best to fuel them with positivity and play their best cricket.
He also expressed his gratitude towards his family, friends and the PCB for playing a pivotal role in his testing phase and he feels that he can bowl with the same efficiency with reassessed action.
Last August, Ajmal had clinched the number one spot in the ICC ODI bowler rankings. He has 178 Test, 183 One-Day and 85 T20 wickets under his belt.
He also insisted on the fact that though the PCB might be going through tough times right now, but the Pakistani side has enough heart and talent to bounce back from catastrophic situations and take his team to paths of victory.
Ajmal concluded that there’s no scarcity of talent in the side, and only a bit of reviewing and toiling would bring them back to the zenith of their game.