Pakistan to honour Saeed Ajmal with special award

Tags: Saeed Ajmal, PCB

Published on: Sep 11, 2012

The Pakistan Cricket Board Chief Zaka Ashraf has announced that there will be a special award for Saeed Ajmal after he comes back from the ICC World Twenty20. The PCB has stated that it will be a compensation for Saeed Ajmal for his name being controversially omitted from the short list of the ICC Test Player of the Year.

By BV Swagath

The Pakistan Cricket Board Chief Zaka Ashraf has announced that there will be a special award for Saeed Ajmal after he comes back from the ICC World Twenty20. The PCB has stated that it will be a compensation for Saeed Ajmal for his name being controversially omitted from the short list of the ICC Test Player of the Year.

Saeed Ajmal has been extremely successful in all the formats of the game tormenting each and every batsman with his magical variations of off spin and doosra. It was a surprise that the ICC had decided not to consider him for the award for which he would have been a front-runner.

There are rumours in the cricketing world that the ICC snub was because of the suspect action with which Saeed Ajmal delivers his doosras. The ICC which is the custodian of the sport usually doesn’t encourage young cricketers in following the footsteps of Saeed Ajmal, Muttiah Muralitharan and others who no doubt are great bowlers but with obviously suspect bowling actions. By awarding Saeed Ajmal with the ICC Test Player of the Year, the ICC would have possibly sent the wrong message that it endorses such bowling actions.

Meanwhile there has been a debate of the ICC unfairly treating Saeed Ajmal even in the Pakistani Parliament. There is pressure on the PCB to express the nation’s displeasure by boycotting the ICC Awards ceremony. However, Zaka Ashrad, the PCB Chief has stated that doing so would be an extreme step but at the same there was growing demand from the country to take that decision.

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