Imran Tahir gets people out and does not go for too many runs — that matters
SA have arrived in New Zealand as the top-ranked one-day team and with four of their top six rated among the leading seven batsmen in the format. But only two of their bowlers are in the top seven — Kagiso Rabada and a Rawalpindi-born enigma who turns 38 in March, and is the top-ranked bowler in both short formats. Imran Tahir is perhaps the single-biggest reason SA have won all 11 one-day internationals they have played‚ all of them at home‚ since September. And that’s even though he did not play in two — Tahir has infused SA’s short-format play with uncommon intensity and determination. In a national cricket culture policed by pacemen and in a format designed to deify batsmen‚ a champion wrist spinner makes no sense, except in the only sense that matters: Tahir gets people out and doesn’t go for too many runs. "A lot of spinners only peak late in their career‚ and that’s got a lot to do with the experience they pick up‚" SA’s spin consultant‚ Claude Henderson‚ said. "‘Immi’ has pr...
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