Imran Tahir

Imran Tahir

Tahir playing for South Africa against Somerset in July 2012.
Personal information
Full name Mohammad Imran Tahir
Born (1979-03-28) 28 March 1979
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting style Right handed
Bowling style Right-arm leg break
Role Bowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 310) 9 November 2011 v Australia
Last Test 3 December 2015 v India
ODI debut (cap 102) 24 February 2011 v West Indies
Last ODI 5 October 2016 v Australia
ODI shirt no. 99
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1996–2006 Lahore
1998–99, 2004–07 Water & Power Development Authority
2001–04 Sui Northern Gas
2002–03 Sialkot
2003 Middlesex
2004–2005 Staffordshire
2005/06 Lahore Lions
2007 Yorkshire
2007–2009 Titans
2008–2014 Hampshire
2010–2012 Dolphins
2010 Warwickshire
2012–present Highveld Lions
2014–present Delhi Daredevils
2015–present Nottinghamshire
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 20 58 181 171
Runs scored 130 88 2,402 395
Batting average 9.28 8.00 14.12 10.97
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/4 0/0
Top score 29* 29 77* 41*
Balls bowled 3,925 3,075 35,450 7,958
Wickets 57 105 741 265
Bowling average 40.24 22.75 26.12 23.15
5 wickets in innings 1 2 50 5
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 11 n/a
Best bowling 5/32 7/45 8/42 7/45
Catches/stumpings 8/– 13/– 76/– 38/–
Source: Cricinfo, 17 June 2016

Mohammad Imran Tahir (Urdu: محمد عمران طاہر; born 27 March 1979) is a Pakistani-born South African cricketer. A leg break bowler and right-handed batsman, Tahir currently plays for the Highveld Lions in South Africa and played for Hampshire in the 2011 English county cricket season. He also represents Delhi Daredevils in IPL.

On 15 June 2016, Tahir became the first South African bowler to take seven wickets in an ODI, and also the fastest South African to reach 100 ODI wickets (58 matches).[1]

Domestic career

As well as his first-class career in Pakistan, Tahir has had short spells with Yorkshire[2] and Middlesex in county cricket as well as playing for Staffordshire in the Minor Counties Cricket Championship.

While Tahir has represented Pakistan Under-19 cricket team's and Pakistan A, he failed to win full international honours for Pakistan. Tahir is married to Sumayya Dildar,[3][4] a South African of Indian descent, and has represented South Africa after becoming eligible to play for them when he met his four-year residence requirement in April 2009.[5] Tahir was a member of Hampshire's 2009 Friends Provident Trophy winning squad, taking 2/50 from 10 overs in the final against Sussex. Tahir made his career high score of 77 not out in a County Championship match against Somerset on 28 August 2009.[6]

For the 2010 season Hampshire signed Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis, replacing Tahir for the season. Tahir represented Warwickshire for the 2010 season, although he is contracted to play for Hampshire from the 2011 season onwards.

Tahir made his 100th first-class appearance in the 2009/2010 SuperSport Series when the Titans played the Lions. On 8 January Tahir was called up to the South Africa squad in their Test series against England although he was then withdrawn one day later after Cricket South Africa revealed that he was not eligible to play.[7]

At the end of the 2009/10 season, Tahir moved from the Titans to the Dolphins. This was due to a lack of first-class cricket with the club, who preferred to play 23-year-old leg-spinner Shaun von Berg. When Tahir was called into South Africa's squad for the final Test against England, national coach Mickey Arthur said "I'm not entirely sure what the issues are between him and the Titans, but the Titans obviously aren't going to pick him because they'd rather pick the young leggie they have". He holds the record for representing highest number of teams (27) in the world.[8] He moved to the Highveld Lions in 2012.

International career

Tahir qualified for South Africa on 1 January 2011, and was selected by them for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.[9] Although he was part of South Africa's squad to play a five-match ODI series against India before the World Cup, Tahir did not make his debut. Captain Graeme Smith explained that this was because "[Tahir] is someone we want to keep fresh and we didn't want to give people the opportunity to see too much of him."[10]

Imran Tahir debuted for South Africa in a match against the West Indies on 24 February 2011 at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi. He took 4 wickets for 41 runs in 10 overs during his debut match.[11]

In November 2012 Tahir bowled 37 overs in a Test match against Australia, with no wickets for 260 runs – the worst bowling figures in Test match history.[12] After the test, he was dropped and replaced by Robin Peterson. In October 2013, Tahir made a comeback to test cricket when he took 5 wickets in an innings for the first time in a test match and guided South Africa to clinch victory against Pakistan by an innings and 92 runs in the Dubai Test, thus levelled the series 1–1. He took 8 wickets in the match.[13]

At the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, Tahir bowled his best figures of 4–21 in South Africa's nail-bite match against the Netherlands on 27 March 2014, and was awarded Man of the match. Imran Tahir was South Africa's highest wicket taker in the tournament. Tahir also was joint highest wicket taker with Ahsan Malik from the Netherlands, both took 12 wickets in the tournament.[14]

Tahir joined the Delhi Daredevils squad for the 2014 IPL, following the injury of fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile.

T20 Cricketer of the Year: Imran Tahir. Imran Tahir was South African international Twenty20 player of the year at the Cricket South Africa awards.[15]

In the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup Quarter Final match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, Tahir helped South Africa to their first ever World Cup knockout win with a Man of the Match performance of 4-26.[16]

Imran Tahir was named in the ODI team of the year for 2015 by the ICC [17]

Personal life

Imran Tahir was born in Lahore, Pakistan. He learnt his trade in Pakistan. He even went on to represent the Pakistan U-19 team and was also a part of the Pakistan A side on some tours. However, he failed to make the transition to the next stage. Pakistan were blessed with some quality spinners and Tahir never really made his mark at the senior level to warrant a selection.

He began playing county cricket in England but did not stay there for long. He made another jump, this time to South Africa. Another wise move, considering South Africa's perennial dearth of quality spinners. He even met his wife, a South African citizen of Indian origin, and settled down in South Africa.

He got his first call to the South African Test team in 2010 when England where touring, but it was due to an embarrassing error by the selection committee. Tahir was not eligible to play for South Africa until January, 2011. He was quickly withdrawn from the team then, but found his way back almost immediately after becoming eligible to play.

He was selected for the ODI series against India, but was never picked in the playing eleven. Skipper, Graeme Smith, preferred to keep him as a surprise weapon for the World Cup in the subcontinent soon after. He impressed immediately, picking 14 wickets in the five games he played. He remains as an attacking option for the captain and is waiting for his first Test cap, which should come pretty soon.

He made his Test debut against Australia at Cape Town in November 2011 and since then, he has been a regular part of the squad. In the Test series against Pakistan in UAE in 2013, he was not picked for the first Test, but he came back strongly in the second by bagging a five-wicket haul on the first day of the Test match. Tahir was left out once again after one bad Test with the ball against India and was replaced by Robin Peterson, but he continued to do well in the shorter forms of the game. He was also the highest wicket-taker in the 2014 T20 World Cup, with 12 wickets at an average of 10.91. He continued to be a regular member of the South African side in all formats and played Test matches in spin-friendly conditions.

He has been South Africa's frontline spinner in the ODI format for a while and his variations with the ball, could come in handy for South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.

Interesting fact: South Africa, Dolphins, Easterns, Hampshire, Lahore Blues, Lahore City, Lahore Lions, Lahore Ravi, Lahore Whites, Middlesex, Pakistan A, Pakistan International Airlines, Redco Pakistan Ltd, Sialkot, Staffordshire, Sui Gas Corporation of Pakistan, Titans, Warwickshire, Water and Power Development Authority, Yorkshire - these are the teams that Tahir has represented so far in his career. [18]

International record

Test 5 wicket hauls

#Figures Match Opponent Venue City Country Year
1 5/32 12  Pakistan DSC Cricket Stadium Dubai U.A.E 2013
2 5/38 21  India VCA Stadium Nagpur India 2015

ODI 5 wicket hauls

#Figures Match Opponent Venue City Country Year
1 5/45 33  West Indies Sydney Cricket Ground Sydney Australia 2015
1 7/45 58  West Indies Warner Park Basseterre St. Kitts 2016

Records

One day Internationals

Twenty20 Internationals

International Awards

One Day Internationals

Man of the Match awards

S No Opponent Venue Date Match Performance Result
1 Sri Lanka Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 18 March 2015 8.2-0-26-4 ; 1 ct. ; DNB  South Africa won by 9 wickets.[19]
2 West Indies Warner Park, Basseterre 15 June 2016 DNB ; 9-0-45-7  South Africa won by 139 runs.[20]

Twenty20 International Cricket

Man of the Match Awards

# Series Date Opposition Match Performance Result
1 2014 ICC World Twenty20 26 March 2014 Netherlands 9* (7 balls, 1x4) ; 4-0-21-4  South Africa won by 6 runs.[21]
2 England in South Africa 19 February 2016 England 4-0-21-4 ; DNB  South Africa won by 3 runs.[22]

Player of the Series Awards

# Series Season Match Performance Result
1 England in South Africa 2015/16 8-0-46-5 ; DNB  South Africa won the series 2-0.[23]

References

  1. ↑ "Tahir, Amla lead South Africa to another bonus-point win". ESPNcricinfo. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  2. ↑ Warner, David (2011). The Yorkshire County Cricket Club: 2011 Yearbook (113th ed.). Ilkley, Yorkshire: Great Northern Books. p. 371. ISBN 978-1-905080-85-4.
  3. ↑ "How Tahir's world spun around love for Sumayya". Devadyuti Das. The Times of India. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "An Eye on the Ball". The Mercury (South Africa). 22 October 2010. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  5. ↑ "Proteas unmask their Warnie". smh.com.au.
  6. ↑ "Tahir leaves Somerset battling to save game". Bristol Evening Post. 29 August 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  7. ↑ "Imran Tahir Withdrawn From South African Test Squad". Cricketworld.com. 9 January 2010.
  8. ↑ McGlashan, Andrew (11 January 2010), Confusion reigns over Tahir exclusion, Cricinfo, retrieved 2010-01-12
  9. ↑ "Tahir and van Wyk picked for World Cup – Yahoo! Eurosport". Uk.eurosport.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  10. ↑ Moonda, Firdose (24 January 2011). "South Africa roll the dice game". Cricinfo. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  11. ↑ "South Africa vs West Indies, ICC World Cup 2011". Cricket Archives.
  12. ↑ "Worst. Bowling. Figures. Ever!". The Age. 25 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  13. ↑ faisee. "Imran Tahir 5 Wickets Against Pakistan In 2nd Test". Daily Cricket News.
  14. ↑ "Most Wickets - Men - ICC T20 World Cup 2014 - ICC Cricket Official Website". icc-cricket.com.
  15. ↑ "AB de Villiers rakes in four CSA awards - Cricket - ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo.
  16. ↑ "Tahir picks up man-of-the-match award". Sport.
  17. ↑ "ICC Test and ODI Teams of the Year 2015 announced". ICC.
  18. ↑ http://www.cricbuzz.com/profiles/6667/imran-tahir#profile
  19. ↑ "ICC Cricket World Cup, 2015 - 1st quarter final".
  20. ↑ "West Indies Tri-Nation Series, 2016 - 6th match".
  21. ↑ "ICC World T20, 2014 - 21st match, Group 1 – South Africa v Netherlands Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "England in South Africa T20I Series, 2015-16 - 1st T20I Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  23. ↑ "England in South Africa T20I Series, 2015/16 Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. 21 February 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
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