India threatened to lodge a protest against Saeed Ajmal’s bowling action before surprisingly backing out.
A day after India threatened to lodge a protest against Saeed Ajmal’s bowling action before surprisingly backing out, the Pakistan team management reacted sharply, saying their arch-rivals were merely employing “pressure tactics”.
“We have nothing to say. We will talk if and when we receive a notification from the ICC,” a team official said. When informed that India had chosen not to pursue the matter, the official responded curtly. “There you go! So it was a pressure tactic. Don’t they know that the ICC has no issues with Ajmal’s action? Then why all this drama?” the official said.
On Tuesday, Ajmal, who bowled for well over 40 minutes, did what he does best: flummox batsmen.
In fact, he didn’t even spare his skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and senior pro Younus Khan, outfoxing both the right-handers with his delayed action and tough-to-pick variations.
The wily off-spinner’s doosras and teesras have bamboozled batsmen the world over. It was one such delivery that got the better of Sachin Tendulkar during Sunday’s high-voltage clash at the Sher-e-Bangla.
When asked if he was aware of the reports, Ajmal let out a big laugh. “Nahin yaar, kya hua? (No my friend, what happened?)” And when the media contingent informed that India were indeed “afraid” of his bowling, hence the hue and cry, Ajmal laughed off the claim.
When reminded that it was Tendulkar’s dismissal that prompted the team management to raise a voice against his bowling action, Ajmal’s humility came to the fore. “Arre, woh toh mahaan hain. Ek baar nikala toh kya hua? (He is a great player. So what if I got him once?).” He wasn’t done. The Queen hasn’t knighted the maestro, but Ajmal addressed the batting legend as Sir Sachin. “Woh toh Sir Sachin hain, legend hain (he is Sir Sachin, he’s a legend). He may be in the fag end of his career, but he is still a great player,” Ajmal said.
It’s indeed a shame that India resorted to such a cheap tactic. Well, they must have hoped to rattle Ajmal and his teammates. But Ajmal comes across as a toughie who, perhaps, believes in what Friedrich Nietzsche, the great German philosopher, once said. “What does not kill me makes me stronger.”
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