Imran Tahir, the leading bowler in both ODIs and T20s, said he never thought he would topple everyone to lead the bowling charts one day. The leg-spinner attained the number one ranking in ODIs after South Africa’s landmark 5-0 win over Sri Lanka recently.
Having claimed the pole position in the T20Is post the three-match series against the Islanders, Tahir was successful in borrowing more accolades for himself by his impressive and rather consistent bowling performance in white-ball cricket lately.
Known to keep things simple and subtle, Tahir has always provided breakthroughs for his skipper. Learning that his last wicket-less ODI came 10 matches back, the leggie is on the road of only getting better with each passing game.
However, it isn’t the first time he has marched up the ladder to first position in ODIs. During the 2015 World Cup, he held the spot for the longer period before getting leapfrogged by Australia’s Mitchell Starc. Again in October 2015, he was right up there during the series against New Zealand.
“When I started cricket I never thought I’d be No. 1 bowler, it’s all the hard work I’ve done and I’m very excited. There are a lot of good players in world cricket and coming top of that is a really good achievement and I’m really grateful.”
“It’s an absolute honour playing for South Africa, the boys have helped me over the years and made me the bowler I am today. Credit goes to them as well. I’ll try and stay in the spot as long as I can but there are some other brilliant cricketers.”
As New Zealand will host South Africa for one T20I and five ODIs, starting February 17, hosts captain Kane Williamson is aware about Tahir’s threat and said it is important to play against him, if they seek to break Proteas’ 10-match unbeaten streak in ODIs.
“He’s a great operator for South Africa, and any team he plays for. We’ve played a lot against each other. It’s important we play him well.”