LAHORE - Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal has been cleared to bowl after passing biomechanic tests on his remodelled action, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Saturday.
A week before the start of the World Cup, the ICC said Ajmal and Bangladesh spinner Sohaq Gazi had been re-tested in Chennai last month and cleared to resume bowling in international cricket.
"At the retests, it was revealed that the amount of elbow extensions in both the off-spinners' bowling actions for all their deliveries was within the 15-degree level of tolerance.
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" the world governing body said.
"The umpires are still at liberty to report Saeed Ajmal and Sohag Gazi in the future if they believe they are displaying a suspect action and not reproducing the legal actions from the retests.
To assist the umpires they have been provided with images and video footage of the two bowlers’ significantly remodeled legal bowling actions.
” The retests were performed at the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai on 24 January.
Ajmal was reported after the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle in August, while Gazi was also reported in August after the second One-Day International against West Indies in Grenada.
Ajmal was pulled out of Pakistan's World Cup preliminary squad in December with the board ruling out any chance for the 37-year-old to get his remodelled action cleared before the Feb 14-March 29 tournament.
But the spinner has not given up hope of playing in the showpiece competition.
"Obviously, if an emergency arises I am available for the World Cup even with my modified action although I would like to do more work on my modified action and new deliveries," he told reporters here at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
"I am really delighted today at my action being cleared but I want to return to top cricket when totally comfortable I can repeat my old performances," Ajmal said.
"It has been a hard time for me and it is not easy to have had my World Cup plans disrupted.
But the bad times are now over and it is the start of a new phase of cricket for me," he added.
Ajmal, who has taken 178 Test, 183 one-day international and 85 Twenty20 wickets is likely to return to the national side against Bangladesh in April.
"I don't have any plans to retire and want to play for another three to four years," he said.
Earlier, the ICC Saturday announced that testing a fortnight ago revealed the off-spinner no longer bent above the 15-degree limit for any of his deliveries, and as such was able to return to international cricket for the first time since August.
For Ajmal to play in the World Cup, it would require an injury to one of the 15 players in Pakistan's squad.
Medical documentation proving that injury must be submitted to the ICC in order for the withdrawal of a player to be considered, as a means of preventing teams making tactical changes under the guise of injury.
Confirmation of the 37-year-old's availability came just a day after Pakistan withdrew seamer Junaid Khan because of injury.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) cannot go back on their decision to replace him with fellow paceman Rahat Ali, as the change has already been approved by the World Cup technical committee.
Pakistan are also facing fresh injury crisis as M Hafeez and pacer Ehsan Adil both had been injured.
Hafeez is likely to resume his duties as batsman in a two-week time but prospects for Adil are bleak and he is very likely to be replaced by Ajmal.
If PCB doesn’t give go ahead to Ajmal, it is expected leg-spinner Yasir Shah will complement Shahid Afridi as a spin-bowling option, as all-rounder Hafeez is yet to be cleared to bowl again after he too was banned for an illegal action.
