Hitting out at International Cricket Council for bias towards Pakistan bowlers, former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has accused ICC of discriminating against Pakistani bowlers.
He has said that he should have taken legal action against the governing body for its “mysterious” method of evaluating bowling actions, Pak Passion reported.
Ajmal questioned the technology that the ICC uses to determine a bowler’s elbow extension and criticised the procedure’s lack of openness.
The former cricketer was banned in 2014 after tests revealed that his deliveries exceeded 15 percent of the permitted level. Looking back, he thinks that the testing procedure was so flawed that a court decision could have been obtained too.
“I should have taken legal action against the ICC for banning me from bowling. If I had gone to court against the ICC to question their use of technology to assess the legality of my bowling action, then I would have won that case,” Ajmal said.
“The location of the computer chip, which is installed on the body of the bowler, can determine if the player passes or fails his bowling action test. The location of the chip on the bowler’s body can mean a difference of 5 or 6 degrees in terms of permissible straightening of the elbow joint which places a big question mark on the whole process.”
Ajmal believes that like him, veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez too fell victim to the flawed test, adding that the ICC targets Pakistani cricketers.
“Look at what has been done to Mohammad Hafeez who had been bowling so well international cricket. The poor guy cannot bowl properly due to all these restrictions. Yet we have others, non-Pakistanis, who are bowling freely whilst our guys are being banned for illegal actions,” he said.