LAHORE - Pakistan magical spinner Saeed Ajmal Tuesday vowed that his team would trounce the world’s best Test side South Africa, just like they did England last year in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Talking to the reporters during the team’s training camp here at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Ajmal, 36, said: “Last time when we played in Dubai, England was number one and we were at the same sixth position and we performed well. We will try our best to perform as well against South Africa as we did against England.”
Pakistan were thrashed 3-0 in South Africa in February and then lost the second Test to Zimbabwe in a 1-1 Test series stalemate last month. Pakistan will once again look to tame Graeme Smith, chiefly through Ajmal and left-armer Abdul Rehman.
“I have taken 25 wickets in the last five Test matches out of which three Test matches were played on green top wickets in South Africa,” he said and asked: “Who says it’s a bad performance?”
“I am not saying that I will take 20 or 40 wickets against South Africa in the coming series, but I will try my best to be the man of the series.”
Ajmal said he would not be eyeing ‘revenge’ against South Africa, but will challenge the Proteas on wickets which are expected to help spinners. “We know it takes spin in Dubai, and yes we are capable of bowling them out twice in Test matches,” he said. “There’s nothing like revenge in cricket, but we will give them a good reply.”
“Our bowling attack is good, fast bowlers are also good, Rehman is also in fine form and has also given very decent performances, and I hope we will make a good bowling combination to tame the number one Test side,” said Ajmal.
“We are capable of bowling them out twice in Tests. We are not down, victory and defeat are the part of the game but we will do well. There’s nothing like revenge in cricket, but we will reply them good. I can’t say 100 percent Pakistan will win, but if we play to 100 percent, we will win,” he added.
Ajmal said he was focusing on his doosra - an off spin delivery that turns away from right-handed batsman - to outfox the Proteas in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. “My strength is the doosra and I do take 70 percent of my wickets through it,” he concluded.