Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar Khan has said that suspended off-spinner Saeed Ajmal needs to decide for himself whether he can pass the official International Cricket Council (ICC) test or not.
Shahryar's decision has left Ajmal's fate hanging in the balance, and with the off-spinner's career on the line, the wrong decision could be the final nail in the coffin for him.
The veteran bowler has undergone informal testing in the UK, but the results showed that Ajmal was still over the allowed limit of a 15-degree flexion. He has continued working on his remodeled action at the Loughborough University with Saqlain Mushtaq and biomechanists, but was called back to Pakistan, the Express Tribune reported.
The PCB asked Ajmal to appear in Pakistan A's last two matches against Kenya so that his action could be judged in an actual match environment and unfortunately, the off-spinner looked like a shadow of himself as he struggled to bowl properly.
Shahryar said that Ajmal should decide whether he wants a reassessment on his action or not, adding that what if they send the spinner for the test and he fails it, which would be damaging for both the PCB and Ajmal as failure would result in a two-year ban, thus ending his career.
It should be recalled that Ajmal's previous official test revealed that his overall bowling action was illegal and his flexion was over 40 degrees, nearly triple the allowed limit.
The PCB is now planning to send both Ajmal and Muhammad Hafeez, also suspended for his illegal bowling action, to Chennai for informal testing to get a clear picture before applying for a formal assessment, the report added.
