Australian captain Pat Cummins has picked out his toughest opponents from across the cricketing world in a video released by Prime Video Sport, singling out Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal for special mention.
Speaking in the clip, Cummins recalled facing Ajmal’s doosra for the first time. “It was like last four of the over, I walked in, Saeed Ajmal was going ‘f***,'” he said. “And I went, ‘What?’ Clean bowled. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Pat Cummins named his toughest opponents from across the cricketing world, picking Alastair Cook from England, Cheteshwar Pujara from India, Brendon McCullum from New Zealand, AB de Villiers from South Africa, Tillakaratne Dilshan from Sri Lanka, and Chris Gayle from the West Indies.
Saeed Ajmal played international cricket for Pakistan between 2008 and 2015. He appeared in 35 Tests, taking 178 wickets at an average of 28.10. In ODIs, he played 184 matches and picked up 184 wickets at an average of 22.72. In T20Is, he featured in 64 games, claiming 85 wickets at an average of 17.83.
Across all three formats, Ajmal finished his international career with 447 wickets for Pakistan.
At his peak, Ajmal held the number one ranking among ODI bowlers in the ICC standings and also topped the T20I bowling rankings. His best Test figures came against England in Dubai in 2012, when he took 7 for 55 in an innings and 10 wickets in the match.
He also became the fastest Pakistani bowler to reach 100 Test wickets, achieving the landmark in just 19 matches.
Ajmal’s career ended prematurely after the ICC suspended him in September 2014 for having an illegal bowling action. He worked to remedy the issue but eventually withdrew from Pakistan’s 2015 World Cup squad after failing to fix it in time.
He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in November 2017 and later went on to serve as a bowling coach for Pakistan.
