Saeed Ajmal: Pakistan’s Star Man

By Faisal Hanif

With the fourth edition of the ICC World Twenty20 imminent, one player on most people’s list to star at the tournament in Sri Lanka is Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal.

In the post Warne/Murali era the man from Faisalabad has established himself as the premier spin bowler in world cricket. Given his performances over the last year some would even argue that he is the number one bowler outright.

Ajmal, who began his international career at the relatively late age of 30, has made up for lost time. In helping demolish England earlier in the year he became the fastest off spinner in history to 100 test wickets (19 matches). Recently he has also overhauled compatriot Shahid Afridi to become the highest wicket taker in international Twenty20 cricket. In all three formats of the game Ajmal is ranked in the top three in the ICC’s official rankings, coming in at number one in ODIs.

Saeed Ajmal in action

His consistency over the last twelve months has been so spectacular that his omission from the shortlist for the ICC’s prestigious test player of the year award has caused a national and international outcry.

But stats and awards or the lack of them in this case paint a partial picture of Ajmal’s influence on the world game and that of Pakistan cricket as a whole. In the aftermath of the spot fixing scandal that has deprived Pakistan, and world cricket, of two potentially great bowlers in Mohammed Aamer and Mohammed Asif, Ajmal has stepped in to fill the void. He has more than any other bowler, or player for that matter, assured Pakistan’s continued competitiveness on the world stage.

For a country famous for its production line of bowling greats he maintains the tradition, sharing a common ability to deceive batsmen with both subtle and exaggerated variations.

His doosra has proved virtually unplayable at times and he has bamboozled even the historic masters of spin bowling like Sachin Tendulkar, as well as dismantling the top order of the then ‘number one test team’ three test matches in succession. A breakdown of Ajmal’s figures show that over 60% of his wickets have involved batsmen from position 1-7 in the batting line up.

Whilst in technical ability Ajmal is most often compared with Muttiah Muralitharan (given the shared occupation as offspiners) he has exhibited characteristics more commonly associated with the other great spin maestro, Shane Warne.

Throughout his career Warne was not only hailed as a great technician but also a master of the mental aspect of the game. As part of the great Aussie generation that revolutionised methods in the mental degradation of opponents, Warne was more often than not the chief culprit.

Ajmal took this one step further as Pakistan prepared to battle the all conquering England team in a three test series in January-February 2012. With his reputation growing in the build up to the series, coupled with the English batting’s well known susceptibility to spin bowling, Ajmal issued a warning of having invented a new delivery. The English batsmen, already in dread of having to face the now infamous doosra, where now in a sweat over the mysterious teesra that threatened to compound their problems.

Pundits and fans alike were equally enthralled as to what this new delivery would do. Perhaps as its name suggested it would spin in three different ways? As the series progressed and Ajmal took an impressive 24 wickets at an average of 14.70 it became clear that there was no teesra. The mind games had the desired affect and the doosra and other little variations had been enough to whitewash the competitors and claim a historic victory.

The fact that Ajmal’s threats had been taken so seriously shows how much his opponents have come to rate his abilities. As a late developer Ajmal continues to work at his art all the time with each game providing a new subtle variation that doesn’t allow a batsman to ever truly settle. It may not be long before an actual teesra is unveiled to the world.

With or without such a delivery he is sure to relish the slow spinning wickets of Sri Lanka and will be Pakistan’s trump card in securing a second Twenty20 world title. Despite the twenty over format being a batsman’s game he is a good bet to be the star performer and perhaps man of the tournament. Shane Warne certainly thinks so.