Islamabad: Pakistan's cricket chief says suspended offspinner Saeed Ajmal will soon have his illegal bowling action retested in hope of being cleared before the Cricket World Cup in four months.
"We are sending Ajmal informally to one of the (ICC-accredited) laboratories," PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said on Tuesday.
"If we find his bowling action is OK, we will then go to the ICC for review ... and it will include both his normal action and doosra."
Ajmal will go to one of the laboratories in Cardiff, Brisbane or Chennai. Khan did not say which one, or when. The world's top-ranked bowler in one-day internationals was suspended on Sept. 9 by the International Cricket Council for an elbow extension of more than twice the allowable limit of 15 degrees.
Pakistan brought in former test offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq to help rehabilitate Ajmal at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, where two more former test bowlers Mushtaq Ahmed and Mohammad Akram also helped.
Ajmal told Khan this month that his elbow extension was around 20 degrees, and he hoped to bring it down to 10 degrees during the informal testing. "When I met them (Ajmal and Saqlain) today, both told me that the bowling action is much better now, and we are prepared to get tested in front of high-speed cameras," Khan said.
Khan admitted to doubting Ajmal could remodel his action since he had been bowling with the same action for five years, after he was first cleared in 2009. "But the good thing was that Ajmal knew what the problem was," Khan said.
In the absence of Ajmal, Australia whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 in the ODI series in the United Arab Emirates last week, and it will be tough for captain Misbah-ul-Haq to compete in the upcoming two tests without his ace slow bowler.
Pakistan is also scheduled to host New Zealand next month in the UAE for three tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s.
