Pakistan Cricket: The 'dis-heartening' case of Imran Tahir
Pakistan cricket and politics are terms that are inter-related. Not only that Pakistan cricket has always been surrounded by controversies, internal politics of PCB and at the regional level of the sport has made matters worse for Pakistan. This has not
only given the tag of un-predictability to Pakistan’s cricket, in fact Pakistan has lost some of the most talented players as well who never came to limelight. Imran Tahir is also amongst those who had the ability to deliver the goods at the international
level but was never given a chance to do so.
Tahir is a right-arm leg spinner who has bamboozled a number of class players with his variety of spin bowling. He came through the ranks at the junior level in Pakistan and represented Pakistan Under-19s in the late 1990s. His performances at the junior
level were astonishing and that was the reason why he was on the verge of a Test cap many times but failed to get the opportunity in the presence of top-class spinners like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saqlain-Mushtaq-c88743, Mushtaq Ahmed, Arshad Khan and Danish Kaneria.
Pakistani selectors have persisted with Danish Kaneria even though Imran Tahir was a much better bowler and batsman as compared to Danish. And arguably, Imran Tahir is also a much better leg-spinner than Danish Kaneria.
Imran Tahir is one of those few cricketers who never got to play Test cricket for their country but were contracted by a number of English county sides consistently including http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hampshire-c789.
Tahir has so far played 127 first-class matches in Pakistan, England and South Africa and has an amazing record in them with 535 wickets at just over 25 runs per wicket with the best of 8 for 76. Whereas, in the limited overs format of the sport he has done
even better and has claimed 140 scalps in just 96 matches at a reasonable economy rate. Keep in mind that his competitor since the junior cricket, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danish-Kaneria-c1314 was never able to make an impact on the limited overs format.
After all the hard-work of a number of years, Imran Tahir lost his heart and left Pakistan cricket forever.
Now he is permanently settled in South Africa as he married Summaya Dildar, who is a South African national. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 because of some documentation issues.
That was after a run of brilliant performances representing Nashua Titans in South African domestic cricket. However, he would be eligible to play for South Africa at the start of 2011 and chances are bright that he would make it to the international cricket
sooner or later.
He was always rated as a great talent in the cricketing ranks in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 but it is a pity that Pakistan has wasted such an amazing talent who could have proved useful for the country as an attacking leg-spinner.
He started playing cricket in the local clubs of Lahore and always dreamt of playing international cricket for Pakistan but he was not destined to play for Pakistan or may be Pakistan was not destined to have the services of such an exciting bowler. Whatever
the case may be, cases like these raise eyebrows of the Pakistan cricket fans who expect that the selectors would pick the best available talent in the country. Which is not the case all the time with Pakistan cricket.
Tags: