KARACHI, (Reuters) – Saeed Ajmal, who tortured England’s batsmen in Pakistan’s clean sweep of their three-test series, believes no one has yet been able to pick his mystery “teesra” ball.
The spinner was named man of the series after his 24 wickets having said before the UAE tests that he had developed the delivery especially for England.
“I used the “teesra” sparingly in the series and I don’t think anyone has been able to spot it as yet and that makes it more dangerous,” Ajmal told the Pakistani “Ary News” channel yesterday.
“I will reveal which is the “teesra” delivery after the (one-day) series is over. Until then it remains a challenge for everyone to identify this ball in the coming one-dayers.”
Modest Ajmal refused to take the plaudits for humbling the world’s top-ranked test side. “I credit my captain (Misbah-ul-Haq) for the success myself or Abdur Rehman (18 wickets) got in the series. He told us from the start that there would be spin pitches and he had confidence we could deliver,” Ajmal said.
“It felt good bowling in tandem with Rehman. There was less pressure on me. Our captain had planned out everything in detail like which bowler will bowl to which batsmen and so on and it worked beautifully.”
Ajmal said the clean sweep was a big moment for a team keen to make people forget the 2010 spot-fixing affair which rocked Pakistan cricket.
“I guess that scandal really hurt our pride and since then we have been trying to get better and better. Beating England 3-0 was like winning the World Cup for us,” Ajmal said.
