'Cleared' Ajmal aiming for 'merit-based' selection in Pak squad for WC

Pakistan's ace off-spinner Saeed Ajmal has claimed that he does not want to be a part of the squad based on his past performance, but insisted that he wants it to be a merit-based selection for him, after he passed his biomechanic tests on his remodeled bowling action and was cleared to bowl by the ICC.

Ajmal's bowling action was deemed legal by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday, a week before the start of the World Cup. The ICC said that Ajmal had been re-tested in Chennai last month and cleared to resume bowling in international cricket.

The world governing body sad that at the retests, it was revealed that the amount of elbow extensions in Ajmal's bowling action for all his deliveries was within the 15-degree level of tolerance, The Dawn reported.

However, Ajmal, who had pulled out of Pakistan's World Cup preliminary squad in December, said that he was fully backing the 15-man squad, which is already in Australia and would not consider himself an automatic selection if a player suffers an injury.

The off-spinner said that he does not want to get back into the team on the basis of his past performances, adding that he wants it to be a merit-based selection. He added that he is obviously available for the World Cup, even with his modified action although he would like to do more work on it, if an emergency arises.

Ajmal said that he is really delighted at his action being cleared but added that he wants to return to top cricket when totally comfortable he can repeat his old performances.

The ace off-spinner said that it has been a hard time for him and it is not easy to have had his World Cup plans disrupted, but he claimed that the bad times are now over and it is the start of a new phase of cricket for him.

Ajmal, who has taken 178 Test, 183 ODI and 85 Twenty20 wickets is likely to return to the national side against Bangladesh in April, the report added.