Saeed Ajmal one of the toughest off-spinners I’ve faced, claims Gautam Gambhir

After making his international debut in 2008 and having a somewhat ordinary start - 4 wickets in the first 4 games - Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal then took no time to establish himself as one of the best white-ball bowlers in the world. Ajmal picked a remarkable 167 wickets in the 100 innings that followed and, astonishingly, in 2013, picked a remarkable 62 wickets to create a ripple in international cricket.

Post 2013, constant trouble with his action meant that Ajmal lost the fizz that made him great and eventually, by 2015, the off-spinner was phased out of international cricket.

The Pakistan man, during his peak, however, was right up there with one of the best spinners of all time, and Ajmal’s deadly doosra and the pace with which he troubled the batsmen has now seen Gautam Gambhir name the 42-year-old as one of the toughest off-spinner’s he’s ever faced.

"One battle which I thoroughly enjoyed was against Saeed Ajmal. Because Ajmal was probably one of the toughest off-spinners I have faced, especially under lights as we couldn't pick his Doosra. And the speed with which he used to bowl at, he was very very lethal," Gambhir said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

Gambhir, an aggressive persona, got into many a heated battle on the field during his playing days, including against Pakistan, and when asked who he enjoyed battling verbally against the most, the southpaw indirectly took the name of his arch-nemesis Shahid Afridi. 

“The world knows about that. The world knows about that. I absolutely loved it and even now,” Gambhir said of his duels with Afridi.