Saeed Ajmal's elbow extension exceeded 40 degrees: Report

In what can only be termed as bad news for Saeed Ajmal, reports from Brisbane indicate that his elbow extension during tests had an average of more than double of the tolerance limit of 15-degrees as allowed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Ajmal recorded an astonishing 40-degrees with a relatively small standard deviation of 2.5 degrees when he was tested at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, according to a 23-page report by the centre.

Ajmal was asked to bowl all his variations and the off-spinner ended up bowling close to eight overs, some of which were not the normal 6-ball overs. The premier Pakistani bowler bowled off-spin, top-spin as well as the 'doosra'. Interestingly, the report states that none of his deliveries came anywhere close to meeting the maximum permissible limits as prescribed by the ICC.

The 36-year old off-spinner was suspended from bowling in international cricket by the ICC with immediate effect after all his deliveries were found to be illegal. Ajmal, whose entire bowling arsenal was found to be illegal will start working on his bowling action from next week, Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) Chairman has said.