There have been many iconic spinners we have seen in the game of cricket. Even in recent times, the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav have been iconic in international cricket and the Indian Premier League(IPL). There is still one spinner who has been giving some of the best performances in his 8-year career. The bowler is none other than South African leggie Imran Tahir. Imran though had a very short career in the game still proved to be one of the best spinners in the game.
Even in the shortest format, there was no match for the guile and experience he possessed. Imran Tahir had a successful career in T20 cricket where he has taken 502 wickets in the 405 matches he has played. Some of his best performances came in the IPL as well where he has taken 82 wickets in 59 games. Tahir also won the purple cap in the 2019 season as well playing for the Chennai Super Kings(CSK). It will be interesting to look back at some of his great performances in the league.
So, here are the Top 3 performances of Imran Tahir in IPL:
3. 4/28 vs Rajasthan Royals- IPL 2015
This was one of the most thrilling matches of the season in the 2015 edition of the tournament. The Delhi franchise put up a great total of 184 in the first innings of the match. It was still up to the bowlers to defend the total. Out of all the Delhi bowlers, it was the leg spinners Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir who caused most of the damage. With the partnership between Ajinkya Rahane and Deepak Hooda going well, skipper JP Duminy gave the tough overs to Tahir. He brought his team into the game getting both the set batters out and finishing with figures of 4/28 in the end. Though he ended up on the losing side, he still managed to display his world-class talent.
2. 4/27 vs Kolkata Knight Riders- IPL 2019
This was one of the best seasons for Imran Tahir where he represented the Chennai Super Kings in his last IPL season. The KKR batters looked good to put up a huge total on the board with Chris Lynn and Nitish Rana dominating the CSK bowlers. It was then the magic of Tahir that got the Yellow brigade back into the match. Tahir first broke the partnership after taking the wicket of Nitish Rana. The wicket of Robin Uthappa and the in-form Lynn was the game-changing moment of the match. Tahir took the wicket of the dangerous Andre Russell in the same over and was influential in restricting the KKR batters to 161 runs. It was an easy win for the Super Kings in the end where Tahir was the man of the match as well.
1. 4/12 vs Delhi Capitals- IPL 2019
This was the match where Imran Tahir was at his dominant best playing against his former side. The CSK batters already put up a decent total of 179 on a tricky Chennai wicket. The bowlers still had to join the party and the Delhi Capitals still had a solid batting lineup that time. Tahir came onto the scene getting the big wicket of Rishabh Pant after the powerplay. He then went on taking wickets at regular intervals getting the wickets of the explosive all-rounders Sherfane Rutherford and Axar Patel. The Capitals ended up being bowled out for just 99 runs and Tahir ended up with his best figures in IPL of 4/12 in 3.2 overs. This game started one of the best seasons for Tahir where he was the highest wicket-taker in the tournament.
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