Saeed Ajmal accuses ICC for being money-minded, drags R Ashwin into controversy

India is all set to face New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship Final at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on June 18. A lot of cricket enthusiasts are expecting R Ashwin to be a key player in the WTC Final clash due to his brilliant record against the left-handed batsmen. On the other hand, Ashwin has also received some mild criticism where recently, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar had said that the Indian spinner is not quite there yet as an all-time great.

Saeed Ajmal takes a dig at R Ashwin while accusing ICC

In a recent development, former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has given a rather controversial statement while taking a dig at R Ashwin. Saeed Ajmal has claimed that R Ashwin was kept out from cricket during a time when ICC was looking to take action against any illegal bowling action in cricket. In the year 2014, Saeed Ajmal was banned from bowling in international cricket by the ICC after his bowling action was deemed to be illegal for all deliveries. The former cricketer felt that during this period, R Ashwin was kept out of cricket to save him from a similar ban.

While speaking to Crickwick, Saeed Ajmal said that all these rules and regulations were changed without asking anyone and he was playing cricket for the last eight years where he also felt that all the rules were aimed at him. He further questioned the absence of Ashwin from cricket for a period of six months during the same time. Ajmal claimed that Ashwin was kept out of cricket to work on him so that he doesn’t get banned. He further said that no one cared if a Pakistan bowler got banned and instead, the ICC only cared about money.

R Ashwin Mankading event

The Indian spinner had also faced his fair share of criticism due to the incident which involved the mankading rule. The mankading event first gained widespread attention in the IPL when R Ashwin took the bails off at the non-striker end when Jos Buttler left the crease before the ball was even delivered. Upon appeal, the R Ashwin mankading incident was reviewed by the umpire and Jos Buttler was given out. Even after Mankading is legal by the laws, it is still considered an unfavourable move in the cricket world due to which the R Ashwin mankading incident received criticism from fans.

R Ashwin stats in Test cricket

As per the R Ashwin stats, the Indian spinner holds the record for the first bowler in the history of Test cricket to take 200 wickets of left-handed batsmen. Ashwin has played 78 Test matches to date while taking 409 wickets with an economy of 2.81. He has registered 30 5-wicket hauls in Test cricket. In Test cricket, Ashwin has bowled with a strike rate of 52.6 while maintaining an average of 24.7.

India squad for WTC Final: Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, H. Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), R. Ashwin, R. Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, W. Saha (WK)

Image Source: AP/PTI