It is because of his ‘Doosra’ that Ajmal was hauled up for scrutiny of his bowling action, some of which, he was informed were delivered with a slightly bent elbow. He is of the view that Australian player Shane Watson was the one responsible for bringing this to the attention of the umpires. Umpires Asad Rauf and Billy Bowden, as well as third umpire Zameer Haider and fourth umpire Nadeem Ghouri, reported Ajmal's action to the ICC. ICC has a panel of human movement specialist, one of whom will now examine Ajmal’s action and if it is indeed found to be faulty, the bowler may face a ban as well as corrective procedures.

The Pakistan coach, Intikhab Alam has questioned this reporting of the Pak bowler and he has indicated that this is unfair and inconsistent on part of the ICC. "Ajmal has played against four countries and nobody raised any finger on his action and suddenly this decision comes. I think they [ICC] are lacking consistency in this process. He bowled exceptionally well and suddenly they decided that he has a problem with his action," said Alam.

Alam mentioned how Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh had been cleared for bowling the ‘Doosra’ and how since there was no difference between their Doosras and the Doosra Ajmal bowls, he will also be cleared. He added that Ajmal had ‘hyper-mobility’ in his arm as and by way of explanation of the strange appearing bowling action for his Doosra.

Ajmal and his coach may protest at the bowler’s action being reported, but cricket news sources have reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board officials have said that umpires had reported the bowler earlier, in April 2006 for having an illegal bowling action when he was playing domestic cricket. He had apparently been recommended to undergo evaluation before being allowed to play again. However the PCB did not think it necessary to send him for evaluation since he was not playing international cricket at the time.

In view of this history, the PCB has reportedly instructed Coach Intikhab Alam to be careful with his statements and to refrain from interfere with the ICC’s working. As of now, the PCB has said that Ajmal would now undergo a review of his action within a period of 15 days.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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