At the age of 40, Saeed Ajmal, the magician, has finally decided to call it a day. Unlike Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, whose retirements were celebrated by the whole cricketing fraternity earlier in the year, Ajmal is bowing out rather quietly.

The farewell Misbah and Younis received is something of an anomaly in Pakistan cricket. Seldom have we watched our heroes hang their boots with such honour and dignity. Sadly, Ajmal is the norm as he had been forgotten over the past few years. But his announcement to retire would certainly have elicited in the minds of his fans the memories of how he mesmerised the cricketing world for nearly half a decade.

Ajmal was a late bloomer as he played his first international game at the age of 30 and his first Test at 32. The cricketing world first took notice of him in the 2009 World Twenty20 in England, where he showcased his talent and made a vital contribution to Pakistan’s successful campaign for the championship. From there on the legend of Ajmal began to grow.

As Saeed Ajmal hangs up his cricketing boots, Eos pays tribute to the finest Pakistani bowler of his time

A year later, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned following the spot-fixing saga, which created a great void in Pakistan’s bowling lineup. Instead of a fast bowler stepping up it was Ajmal who came forward and assumed the mantle of Pakistan’s bowling spearhead, subsequently ushering in the Era of Saeed Ajmal. This was a period in which he completely dominated all formats of the game and rose to number 1 in ICC’s rankings for bowlers in ODIs and T20Is and number 2 in Test matches. He was an all-format bowler, and an exceptional one at that (See Table 1).

Regardless of the format, Ajmal’s primary role in the team was to pick up wickets, and he did exactly that. What made him so successful in doing so was his mastery over his craft. He used his variations to great effect, especially his main weapon, the doosra.

Furthermore, Ajmal’s sharp cricketing mind complemented his skills perfectly. For him, picking up a wicket was like a hunt. He would look for cues in the batsman’s game, such as his stance, his shoulder position, where he was looking to play, and whether he was he looking to play forward or back. These little details would allow him to read the batsman’s mind. He would then devise a plan to set him up and execute it by bringing in his variations.

He had so much belief in his own abilities that he was never deterred by who was facing him at the other end. To him it was just another scalp that he needed to claim. Many a great batsmen of that time struggled to pick him when he unleashed his bag of tricks upon them. The English batsmen in particular came across Ajmal at the height of his powers in early 2012. He bamboozled them throughout the three-match series in the UAE as the number one Test side of that time was subjected to a humbling whitewash.

Words alone cannot do justice to how remarkable a bowler Ajmal has been. Since his ODI debut in 2008, till his last T20I in 2015 (which was Ajmal’s last international game), Saeed Ajmal claimed 447 international wickets across all three formats (See Table 2). Only three bowlers took more wickets during this period, and all three were fast bowlers. Among spinners, Ajmal was comfortably the best not only in terms of wickets taken, but also having the best average and strike rate. If we consider the fast bowlers as well then only Dale Steyn has picked up his wickets at a better average than Ajmal.

These statistics highlight an invaluable quality which Ajmal possessed as a bowler — versatility. When Ajmal failed to clear his bowling action, he was replaced by Yasir Shah in Test cricket. Yasir since then has been a sensation in the longest format and virtually took over from where Ajmal left off. In white ball cricket though, Pakistan struggled to find a replacement and had quite a dismal record with the ball up until the start of 2017. It seems now that Shadab Khan may end up filling that vacuum. Thus it is a testament to Ajmal’s versatility that it took more than two years and two different bowlers as suitable replacements for the great man in all three formats.

Perhaps Saeed Ajmal’s career would have lasted longer had he played in an era when the regulations were less stringent. If so, he might have ended up with a lot more wickets than his eventual tally. For now we can look back at what he achieved and be proud of the fact that he was one of the finest to step out on the cricket field wearing the green cap and the gold star.

Published in Dawn, EOS, November 26th, 2017