LAHORE - Banned off-spinner Saeed Ajmal says he will be more lethal when he returns with an improved bowling action.
Ajmal, 37, leaves for Britain on November to undergo tests on his new action, having been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in September following a biomechanical test carried out in Brisbane, Australia.
Talking to the reporters here at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on Thursday, Ajmal said: “The British High Commission has issued me visa and I will leave for England to get my remolded bowling action tested from an independent lab of Loughborough University on November 10. I am pretty confident I will make a strong comeback to the national side.”
Ajmal, who has taken 178 wickets in 35 tests since his debut in 2009, went for analysis as per ICC regulations after match officials reported his action following the first test against Sri Lanka at Galle in August. The champion spinner, who was Pakistan’s leading wicket taker in the last two years before his suspension, said he had already made some corrections to his bowling action.
The off-spinner added: “I have made some changes to my action and I am comfortable with the new action. I am also confident whenever I am back I will be as effective as before. He bamboozled the world’s best batsmen with his mastery over the so-called ‘doosra’ delivery — a ball that spins in the opposite direction to the off-spinner’s stock delivery. Since being suspended, Ajmal worked on his action for a month at the NCA with former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, a bowler who perfected the doosra.
“I will return with an improved bowling action but as effective as before. I have already undergone some informal tests under the supervision of our experts so I am going to England confident of clearing the tests,” Ajmal said.
He said he was disappointed to miss the series against Australia but said he had enjoyed watching the mauling. “We completely dominated them and our spinners did extremely well. Every player contributed well in the team’s historic victory and the way our batsmen batted was highly appreciable which supported our bowlers to larger extent and at the end, it was team work which resulted in such fruitful results,” he said.
After the informal tests in Cardiff, the PCB will apply to the ICC for a formal test before the World Cup 2015.