Imran Tahir picks his favourite leg-spinner, shares his views on Mankading

Imran Tahir is nothing short of a veteran to the game of cricket. The Pakistan-born leg-spinner failed to get through the ranks in his own country at an early stage. This made him shift to the United Kingdom and later South Africa. It was in the rainbow nation, that Tahir eventually got a chance to showcase his skills in international cricket.

The right-arm bowler is now enjoying his time as he travels across countries participating in T20 franchise cricket. In an interview which was released recently, the 41-year-old talked about his favourite South African cricketer and his choice of a leg-spinner for the T20 format.

During the interview, when Tahir was asked who was his favourite South African cricketer of all time, he took the name of Hashim Amla. The two players retired together from ODI cricket, along with JP Duminy after the conclusion of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Imran Tahir picks his favourite leg-spinner

A little bit later in the conversation, Tahir was asked which leg-spinner he would pick in his T20 XI, if not for himself. To this, the spinner took the name of a legendary bowler whom he might have grown up watching. “It’s gonna be one and only legend, Mr Abdul Qadir,” Tahir told ESPNCricinfo.

The former Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir was a star bowler of his time. He played for Pakistan in 67 Tests and 104 ODIs between 1977 and 1993. He had picked up 236 and 132 wickets in Tests and ODIs respectively. The legendary spinner passed away last year in the month of September, aged 63.

During the interaction, the Proteas bowler was also questioned regarding his stand on the Mankad dismissal debate. Expressing his views, Tahir said that he doesn’t mind it if the bowler has given the batsman a warning.

“See, I don’t mind it if the bowler has given the batsman a clear warning. If after the warning, the batsman is doing it, again and again, I think it’s only fair to Mankad him”, the ex-spinner said.

There has been a lot of debate regarding this form of dismissal. It involves a situation where a bowler runs out the non-striker for backing up too much before the ball is being bowled. The dismissal is named after former Indian cricketer Vinoo Mankad.

Even though the rule exists in MCC’s rule book, players are often criticised for doing it. Apparently, it is not in the spirit of the game for a bowler to do it. However, its existence hasn’t been put into question as many times a bowler committing it has been. Last year during an IPL match, Kings XI Punjab captain Ravi Ashwin mankaded Jos Buttler of Rajasthan Royals. The off-spinner received a lot of backlash for his move on social media.

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