Pakistan needs 10 runs off the last over in an Asia Cup game against India. Shahid Afridi manages to hit Ashwin twice over the rope to win the game. 'Manages to' because well, he edged both the times. Anyway, win is a win. A YouTube video shows a Pakistani man, who watches those winning hits and then shouts and smashes a table multiple times; in anger or passion or whatever! Kabir Khan - an Indian film director - gets really seduced by this event. He injects the same cricket match twice in 'Bajrangi Bhaijan' and names the protagonist cute little girl 'Shahida'. More on Kabir Khan and his subtle references for some other day!
A couple of days later, a prominent Pakistani Cricket writer decides to write a piece on that match on Dawn. You know, the kind of ones, who tried everything to justify Saeed Ajmal's bowling action by selectively selecting the references. In the process, they denounced almost every bowler's action. Sore losers!
Anyway, he writes an article and rubbishes those 2 Ashwin deliveries by calling them something like 'finger'. He goes on to say that people in Pakistan know that well and do it on the streets of Karachi. Well, I am not saying that it is not true. Could be a truth!
While making those deliveries sound rubbish, probably he was impressed by the fact that Saeed - 40 degree bend - Ajmal didn't have to 'finger' the ball while taking it away from the right handed batsman.
Ajmal's fans often called him a magician.
Ashwin once made a not-so-subtle statement on the likes of Ajmal and Narine when he bowled in an international cricket match with full sleeves shirt and an intentional slight bend in the elbow.
After Stuart Broad's famous tweet on Ajmal's action, and so many bowlers with funny actions in subsequent T20 Cricket World Cup, somehow ICC decided to finally crack down on the bent-elbow bowling magicians.
Guess who was the first big casualty! Of course, the magician himself. He had a bend over 40 degrees. He had been bowling and making fool of everyone for years. In an international cricket match, sometimes he would slip in 4 doosras in a 6 balls over. In reality, even his relatively harmless off spinners were well beyond the allowed limit. He did that for years.
Of course he was a magician; as long as he was allowed to perform the magic.
A couple of days later, a prominent Pakistani Cricket writer decides to write a piece on that match on Dawn. You know, the kind of ones, who tried everything to justify Saeed Ajmal's bowling action by selectively selecting the references. In the process, they denounced almost every bowler's action. Sore losers!
Anyway, he writes an article and rubbishes those 2 Ashwin deliveries by calling them something like 'finger'. He goes on to say that people in Pakistan know that well and do it on the streets of Karachi. Well, I am not saying that it is not true. Could be a truth!
While making those deliveries sound rubbish, probably he was impressed by the fact that Saeed - 40 degree bend - Ajmal didn't have to 'finger' the ball while taking it away from the right handed batsman.
Ajmal's fans often called him a magician.
Ashwin once made a not-so-subtle statement on the likes of Ajmal and Narine when he bowled in an international cricket match with full sleeves shirt and an intentional slight bend in the elbow.
After Stuart Broad's famous tweet on Ajmal's action, and so many bowlers with funny actions in subsequent T20 Cricket World Cup, somehow ICC decided to finally crack down on the bent-elbow bowling magicians.
Guess who was the first big casualty! Of course, the magician himself. He had a bend over 40 degrees. He had been bowling and making fool of everyone for years. In an international cricket match, sometimes he would slip in 4 doosras in a 6 balls over. In reality, even his relatively harmless off spinners were well beyond the allowed limit. He did that for years.
Of course he was a magician; as long as he was allowed to perform the magic.
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