KARACHI: England left-arm spinner Samit Patel has heaped praise on former Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal for helping him improve the ‘technical and mental aspects’ of his bowling during the third edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Patel, who was representing eventual winners Islamabad United in PSL3, believes said Ajmal has a ‘positive effect’ on his bowling as the latter served the franchise as a bowling coach this year. “I got some good technical tips Ajmal which resulted in some changes to my bowling action,” said Patel while talking to PakPassion.net. “He brought in some ideas from a technical and mental aspect which we worked on. The couple of technical changes that Ajmal suggested have had a positive effect. I was very happy with Ajmal and the work he did with me during the PSL.” The 33-year-old was used by Islamabad captain Misbahul Haq as the opening bowler in most of the matches and he said he had to adjust on the go, but was satisfied with his performance. “It was a tough challenge and the way I looked at it was that my role was to get top order early wickets and that was mainly key batsmen from the opposition line-up,” Samit explained. “I got the better of some pretty good batsmen in the PSL, including Kamran Akmal, who I got out three times. It’s important as a team to get good players out early in any format of cricket and from an individual perspective it was very satisfying also, especially in an unfamiliar role.” The PSL has provided Pakistan with the likes of Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf who have been phenomenal for the limited-overs sides and Patel believes teammates Hussain Talat and Asif Ali are the next big finds. “We had lots of talent in the squad. Faheem, Talat, Asif and Zafar Gohar were all very impressive. In that middle order Hussain Talat and Asif Ali stood out for me and both played fearless cricket and they just went after the bowling in every match. They played to their strengths which is always beneficial… both are great talents for Pakistan,” he said. On playing under Misbah: Islamabad won the PSL title for the second time in just the third edition under Misbah’s captaincy, and Patel thinks former Pakistan skipper has it all sorted out when it comes to leadership. “He’s a very calm individual. He knew exactly what he was doing,” said Patel. “Obviously he captained Pakistan for so long and he knows what captaincy and leadership is exactly all about. He knew all the decisions that he needed to make on and off the field in terms of selection and what type of wicket it was and what we needed to do in each match. He has been a great captain over the years and I got to see at close quarters why that has been the case.” Published in Daily Times, April 22nd 2018.