The breaking news for the day is that India Coach Duncan Fletcher isn’t convinced about Saeed Ajmal’s bowling action! The India Coach seems to believe that Saeed Ajmal chucks his doosra and is flexing his elbow more than the permissible limits. During yesterday’s India-Pakistan match at Mirpur, the TV Cameras showed Duncan Fletcher sitting with the video analyst in the dressing room and discussing Saeed Ajmal’s doosra using his arm.
A Television Channel in India has reported minutes ago that the India Coach Duncan Fletcher did raise concerns about the legality of Saeed Ajmal’d doosra with Mr. Haroon Lorgat, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the ICC. It’s also believed that the Indian players are also not convinced about Saeed Ajmal’s action and suggesting that the off-spinner could well be throwing with a bent elbow more than the permissible tweak limits!
Mr. Haroon Lorgat seems to have put the issue aside saying that Saeed Ajmal has already been cleared of chucking after biomechanical tests. However, the biggest problem in Cricket is that a bowler can easily mislead the biomechanical tests by coming up with a clean action. But in real match situation when the pressure is really onto stop the runs or take wickets, some bowlers do tweak the elbow a touch extra to get the desired results for their magical deliveries.
We have already seen even India’s Harbhajan Singh getting his doosra banned as he was bending his elbow more than the 15 degrees limit. Harbhajan Singh without the doosra has been a very limited off spinner struggling to take wickets of late. The scanner now is very much on the 34-year-old Saeed Ajmal who has been successful in almost all the matches that he has played. The magical off-spinner has been bamboozling all the batsmen in the world with his doosra. So much so that even the great Sachin Tendulkar struggled to dominate Saeed Ajmal!
Recently, the World No.1 Team England was whitewashed 0-3 in UAE in a Test Series against Pakistan in which Saeed Ajmal played the role of the chief destroyer. His doosra since then has been under the scanner and now it has really become a hot topic following yesterday’s match when Pakistan were under enormous pressure to stop India from chasing 330 on a flat batting surface. Saeed Ajmal himself is quoted in an interview recently suggesting that the ICC has allowed him a 23.5 degrees flex to bend his elbow as his arm was injured and abnormal ever since an accident. A similar leverage was given to Sri Lankan Magician Muttiah Muralitharan who has used his doosra to great effect to become the World’s Highest Test Wicket Taker but with a funny bowling action using a bent elbow.
We will have to see if this issue will be dealt with or just swept away under the carpet!
So guys what do you think - does Saeed Ajmal indeed chucks his doosra?
