"They Made Ball Miss Stumps": Pak Great On Sachin Tendulkar's LBW Call In 2011 World Cup

Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has made a big claim regarding the much-talked-about decision on Sachin Tendulkar's wicket in the 2011 World Cup semi-final in Mohali. Tendulkar was batting at the score of 23 when a delivery from Ajmal hit him on the pad in front of the stumps. Umpire Ian Gould raised his finger to the appeal of the Pakistani players but Tendulkar decided to go upstairs. Replays revealed that the ball would have missed the leg stump and that helped the batter survive.

After more than 12 years of the incident, Ajmal has alleged that the last two frames in the replay were cut to save Tendulkar.

"I played in the 2011 World Cup in India. If you could remember the controversial call of Sachin Tendulkar's wicket. Umpire and I still say he was out. They cut the last two frames to make the ball miss the stumps. Otherwise, it would have directly hit the middle stump," said Ajmal on Nadir Ali's podcast.

Talking about the game, Tendulkar scored 85 runs off 115 balls to help India post 260 for 9 in 50 overs vs Pakistan. The guests were bundled out for 231 in their chase and lost the game by 29 runs.

After a successful but controversial career, Ajmal finished with 178 wickets in 35 Tests, the last of which was at Colombo in Sri Lanka in 2014.

The year 2011 was his golden year as he shone with the ball across all formats, especially Tests. He was the leading wicket-taker in Tests, with 50 in eight matches in the year.

He played his last ODI against Bangladesh at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on April 19, 2015. Ajmal had 184 wickets in 113 ODIs with an impressive bowling economy of 4.18.

(With PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Sachin Tendulkar Saeed Ajmal