Mohammad Imran Tahir ( pa, ; born 27 March 1979) is a South African former international

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. A

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

bowler who predominantly bowls

googlies In the game of cricket, a googly refers to a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is different from the normal delivery for a leg-spin bowler in that it is turning the other way. The googly is ''not'' a variation of the ...

and a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

, Tahir played for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in all three forms of cricket, but preferred the

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

matches. On 15 June 2016, Tahir became the first South African bowler to take seven

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

s in an ODI, and also the fastest South African to reach 100 ODI wickets (58 matches). He is currently South Africa's leading wicket-taker among

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered slowly but with the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. The bowler is referred to as a spinner. Purpose The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ...

s in ODIs and T20Is respectively. On 17 February 2017, Tahir became the fastest South African to reach 50 T20I wickets. On 4 March 2017, against New Zealand he recorded the most economical figures by a South African spinner in an ODI, with 2 wickets for 14 runs from 10 overs. On 3 October 2018, he became the fourth bowler for South Africa to take a hat-trick in ODIs. In March 2019, he announced that he would quit ODI cricket following the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...

. He represented his eighth English county club, when he joined

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

in 2019, thus setting a new record. He is widely known for his running celebration after every wicket he takes, known as The Marathon.

Personal life

Imran Tahir was born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, Pakistan, and learnt the game while growing up there. Being the eldest sibling, he started working at the age of 16 as a retail salesman at Lahore's

Pace Shopping Mall Pace Pakistan ( ur, , ''Pace Khareedari Markaz'') is a Pakistani shopping malls operator based in Lahore, Punjab Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the ...

on a meagre salary, to support his family. His fortunes changed when he was selected during trials to represent the Pakistan U-19 cricket team, eventually progressing onto the Pakistan A side on some tours. However, he failed to make the transition to the next stage. He began playing

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

in England but did not stay there for long. He then moved to

, which faced a perennial dearth of quality spinners. In South Africa, he played domestic cricket for five years and lived "hand-to-mouth for the first two years."

Domestic and T20 career

As well as his first-class career in Pakistan, Tahir has had short spells with

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

in county cricket as well as playing for

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

in the

Minor Counties Cricket Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

. While Tahir has represented

Pakistan Under-19 cricket team Pakistan Under-19 cricket team are twice ( 2004 and 2006) Cricket World Champions at the under-19 level. Their second win made them the first, and to date only, back-to-back champions. They are also 3 time runners-up (1988, 2010 & 2014) and ha ...

's and Pakistan A, he failed to win full international honours for

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. In 2005, aged 26, Tahir became a resident of

. He is married to Sumayya Dildar, a South African woman, and has represented South Africa after becoming eligible to play for them when he met his four-year residence requirement in April 2009. Tahir was a member of Hampshire's 2009 Friends Provident Trophy winning squad, taking 2/50 from 10 overs in the final against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Tahir made his career high score of 77

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

in a

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

on 28 August 2009. For the 2010 season Hampshire signed Sri Lankan spinner

Ajantha Mendis Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslow Mendis ( si, අජන්ත මෙන්ඩිස්; born 11 March 1985) better known as Ajantha Mendis is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played for Sri Lankan national cricket team in all three formats, who i ...

, replacing Tahir for the season. Tahir represented

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

for the 2010 season, and then represented Hampshire again until 2014. Tahir made his 100th first-class appearance in the 2009/2010 SuperSport Series when the Titans played the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

. On 8 January Tahir was called up to the

squad in their Test series against England although he was then withdrawn one day later after

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

revealed that he was not eligible to play. At the end of the 2009/10 season, Tahir moved from the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

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 Shaun von Berg (born 16 September 1986) is a South African cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and leg-break bowler who plays for Northerns. He was born in Pretoria. Domestic career Von Berg made his cricketing debut in the Shepherd Neame ...

. When Tahir was called into South Africa's squad for the final Test against England, national coach

Mickey Arthur John Michael Arthur (born 17 May 1968) is a South African-Australian cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer, who played in South African domestic cricket from 1986 to 2001. He has served as the head coach of the Derbyshire County Crick ...

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. He moved to the Highveld Lions in 2012. In January 2018, he was bought by the

Chennai Super Kings Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by India ...

in the

2018 IPL auction This is a list of all personnel changes for the 2018 Indian Premier League. This was the third season to have all players, apart from a selection of retained players, return to the auction pool (first in 2011, second in 2014) Player retention ...

. He took 26 wickets for the team in IPL 2019, winning the

Purple Cap The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a Twenty20 cricket competition based in India. The tournament honours players with several awards at the end of each season. They are Orange Cap, Purple Cap, Maximum Sixes Award, Most Valuable Player and Emergin ...

. In October 2018, he was named in

Nelson Mandela Bay Giants Nelson Mandela Bay Giants were a franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team were based at the St George's Park Cricket Ground in Port Elizabeth. Nelson Mandela Bay Giants played in the first tw ...

' squad for the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

of the

Mzansi Super League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

T20 tournament. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Amsterdam Knights in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the

team for the

2019 Mzansi Super League The 2019 Mzansi Super League, also known as the MSL 2.0, was the second edition of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 (T20) franchise cricket tournament in South Africa. It started on 8 November and ended on 16 December 2019. Jozi Stars wer ...

tournament. In July 2020, he was named in the

Guyana Amazon Warriors The Guyana Amazon Warriors is a franchise cricket team of the Caribbean Premier League based in Providence, Georgetown, Guyana. The team is the representative cricket team of Guyana in the Caribbean Premier League. It was one of the six teams c ...

squad for the

2020 Caribbean Premier League The 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPLT20) or for sponsorship reasons, Hero CPL 2020 was the eighth season of the Caribbean Premier League, the domestic Twenty20 cricket league played in the West Indies. All matches were played in Trinidad and ...

. On 9 August 2021, whilst playing for

Birmingham Phoenix Birmingham Phoenix are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Birmingham. The team represents the historic counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire in the newly founded The Hundred competition, which began its inaugural se ...

against

Welsh Fire Welsh Fire ( cy, Tân Cymreig) are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Cardiff. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset in the newly founded competiti ...

, Tahir became the first bowler to take a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the inaugural season of The Hundred. In November 2021, he was selected to play for the

Dambulla Giants Dambulla Aura, previously known as Dambulla Viiking and Dambulla Giants, are a franchise Twenty20 cricket team based in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, that competes in the Lanka Premier League (LPL). In June 2021, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) terminated the ...

following the players' draft for the 2021 Lanka Premier League. On 30 October

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Coun ...

announced that Imran Tahir will be the mentor of team Bahawalpur in upcoming Pakistan Junior Cricket League.

International career

Tahir was first called up to the South African Test team in 2010 when England were touring, but it was an error by the selection committee as he would 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. Tahir qualified for South Africa on 1 January 2011, and was selected by them for the

2011 Cricket World Cup The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...

. 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 Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held th ...

explained that this was because "

ahir Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...

is someone we want to keep fresh and we didn't want to give people the opportunity to see too much of him." Imran Tahir debuted for South Africa in a match against the West Indies on 24 February 2011 at the

Feroz Shah Kotla The Feroz Shah Kotla or Kotla ("fortress", "citadel") was a fortress built by Feroz Shah Tughlaq to house his version of Delhi city called Firozabad. A pristine polished sandstone Topra Ashokan pillar from the 3rd century BC rises from the pa ...

stadium in Delhi. He took 4 wickets for 41 runs in 10 overs during his debut match. He impressed immediately, picking 14 wickets in the five games he played. He made his Test debut against Australia at

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in November 2011 and was a regular part of the squad for four years. In the Test series against Pakistan in

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

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 Robin John Peterson (born 4 August 1979) is a former South African cricketer who bowls left arm spin and is a capable batsman. He has played 14 Tests and over 70 ODIs for South Africa. He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on ...

, but he continued to do well in the shorter forms of the game. He continued to be a regular member of the South African side in all formats and played Test matches in spin-friendly conditions. 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. After the Test, he was dropped and replaced by

. 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, levelling the series 1–1. He took 8 wickets in the match. At the

2014 ICC World Twenty20 The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was the fifth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament, that took place in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April 2014. It was played in three cities — Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. Th ...

, Tahir returned his best figures, of 4–21, in South Africa's match against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 27 March 2014, and was awarded

Man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

. Tahir was joint highest wicket-taker in the tournament along with Ahsan Malik from the Netherlands; both took 12 wickets in the tournament. In the

2015 ICC Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Aust ...

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. At the end of 2015 he was named in the ICC ODI team of the year. In February 2017 he reached the top position in both the ODI and T20I rankings for bowlers, and three months later was named T20I Cricketer of the Year at

's annual awards. In August 2017, he was named in a

World XI In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

side to play three Twenty20 International matches against Pakistan in the 2017 Independence Cup in

2019 Cricket World Cup

In April 2019, he was named in South Africa's squad for the

. He played in the opening match of the tournament, against hosts

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. At the age of 40 years and 64 days, Tahir became the oldest cricketer for South Africa to play in a World Cup match. He bowled the opening over of the tournament, therefore becoming the first

spinner Technology *Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI * Spinner (MIT Med ...

to bowl the first over in a World Cup match. Tahir also took the first wicket of the World Cup, dismissing England's

Jonny Bairstow Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for England in all formats. In domestic cricket, he represents Yorkshire, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Sunrisers Hy ...

for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

. In South Africa's next match in the World Cup, against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, Tahir played in his 100th ODI. Tahir retired from the game after playing his team's last group stage match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, along with teammate

JP Duminy Jean-Paul Duminy (born 14 April 1984), more commonly known as JP Duminy, is a South African cricket commentator, and former international cricketer. He was vice-captain of the South Africa Twenty20 team. He is a left-handed batsman and a rig ...

. In November 2020, Tahir was nominated for the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Decade award.

Records

One day Internationals

*Imran Tahir is the spinner with the most wickets in the

ICC World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), ev ...

for South Africa, with 39 wickets. * He was the first South African bowler to take seven wickets in an ODI. * He reached 100 ODI wickets in 58 matches, the quickest such feat for South African bowlers. * He was the first, and () only, spinner to take over 100 wickets in ODIs for South Africa * Most economical ten over spells by a spinner from South Africa – 10–0–14–2 against New Zealand on 4 March 2017. * Imran Tahir was the first South African and fourth overall to take 4 wickets in an innings in all three ICC events (World Cup, Champions Trophy and World T20).

Twenty20 Internationals

* T20 Cricketer of the Year for South Africa 2013 * Imran Tahir has taken the most wickets by a spinner for South Africa, and currently sits on 61 wickets. * Imran Tahir has the best bowling figures for any spinner in

cricket for South Africa with 5/24 against New Zealand.

Notes

References

External links

*
Imran Tahir
s profile page on Wisden

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tahir, Imran 1979 births Living people Chennai Super Kings cricketers Delhi Capitals cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Dolphins cricketers Durham cricketers Easterns cricketers Guyana Amazon Warriors cricketers Hampshire cricketers Karachi Kings cricketers Lahore cricketers Lahore Blues cricketers Lahore City cricketers Lahore Whites cricketers Lions cricketers Middlesex cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Pakistan International Airlines cricketers Pakistani cricketers Punjabi people Redco Pakistan Limited cricketers Sialkot cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers South African cricketers Staffordshire cricketers Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited cricketers Surrey cricketers Sylhet Sixers cricketers Titans cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Water and Power Development Authority cricketers World XI Twenty20 International cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Cricketers from Lahore One Day International hat-trick takers Pakistani emigrants to South Africa South African Muslims South African people of Pakistani descent South African people of Punjabi descent Birmingham Phoenix cricketers Dambulla Giants cricketers