DHAKA: Saeed Ajmal returns to centre stage after almost eight months hoping to strike early form with a remodelled bowling action when Pakistan open their tour of Bangladesh on Friday.
The prolific off-spinner became the most high-profile casualty of the International Cricket Council's crackdown on illegal actions when he was suspended from the game last September.
The 37-year-old was cleared to bowl again in February just before the World Cup Down Under, but was not picked for the showpiece event where Pakistan lost to eventual champions Australia in the quarter-finals.
Ajmal's effectiveness with a reworked action will be tested during the month-long tour of Bangladesh which comprises three one-day internationals, a solitary Twenty20 game and two Tests.
"It was torture living without cricket," Ajmal told AFP ahead of the tour. "I am confident of bowling as effectively as I used to before the suspension."
Pakistan will hope their main strike bowler, who has taken 178 Test, 183 one-day and 85 Twenty20 wickets, will deliver in all three formats on the traditionally slow pitches in Bangladesh.
With skipper Misbah-ul Haq and senior pro Shahid Afridi having retired from one-day cricket after the World Cup, Pakistan named batsman Azhar Ali as captain for the three-match series starting on Friday.
Ali, who has not played one-day cricket since 2013, leads a new-look team that includes just five players who featured in the World Cup. But the experienced Mohammad Hafeez returns to the side along with Ajmal.
Pakistan were hit by injuries to two of their World Cup squad, batsman Sohaib Maqsood and fast bowler Sohail Khan, prior to the tour and on Thursday leg-spinner Yasir Shah was ruled out with a hand injury.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh were bustling with confidence after making the World Cup quarter-finals even though they have beaten Pakistan just once in 47 games across all formats.
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