Facing Ajmal was the toughest: Mahmudullah

In a recent Facebook live conversation in Rabbitholebd.com, Bangladesh T20I skipper Mahmudullah Riyad opened up about a lot of on-field and off-field things. 

When asked about which bowler he was scared of, Mahmudullah replied that he was never scared of facing any particular bowler but Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal seemed to be difficult. 

Having retired from all forms of cricket way back in 2017, Ajmal was considered to be the best spinner in the world by many during the first half of the 2010s. 

He managed to pick up a truckload of wickets in all the formats with his wonderful control and variations. 

He was the no.1 ODI bowler in the world for nearly three years before being banned for an illegal bowling action by the ICC after which he could never return back to full gear. 

On the other hand, Mahmudullah Riyad, having made his international debut in 2007, took some time to reach global stardom.

In ODIs, Mahmudullah faced a total of 45 balls from Ajmal, managing to score only 14 runs with a strike-rate of 31.11 and getting out once. He also failed to hit a single boundary off him.

In tests, Mahmudullah got dismissed twice facing only 24 balls across two matches in 2011 and managed to score just 13 runs. 

The T20I record is negligible though as Ajmal could bowl only 3 balls to the man from Mymensingh in the 2014 World T20.

So, it's clearly visible from the statistics that Mahmudullah really had a hard time facing Saeed Ajmal.

However, to put things in another perspective, when Ajmal's gas was over, Mahmudullah rose to prominence. 

It was in 2015 when Mahmudullah became globally famous after scoring back to back hundreds in the World Cup in Australia. 

He also helped Bangladesh whitewash Ajmal's Pakistan in the ODI series post the World Cup where Ajmal did not fare well. 

Ajmal soon announced his retirement and took coaching roles in the Pakistan Super League.