Former South African leg-spinner, Imran Tahir is one of the most successful spinners in IPL history. He is the third-highest wicket-taker in tournament history among foreign spinners, as he has scalped 82 wickets to his name in 59 games at an average of 20.77. Tahir was recently asked about the best skipper he has played under in his cricketing career. In reply to a query, he named AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, and MS Dhoni.
The veteran spinner said that each of these skippers had immense respect for him and always set the fields as per his need. Notably, Tahir played under MS Dhoni’s leadership at Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and was a part of their victorious campaigns in 2018 and 2021. The wrist-spinner was also the Purple Cap winner in the 2019 edition when he picked 26 wickets in 17 innings.
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While commentating on Star Sports, Imran Tahir said, “The four big captains that I have played under are AB de Villers, Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla and MS Dhoni. It is quite tough for me to choose one. Every captain thinks differently. All the captains that I have played under were very friendly with me. They always set the field as per my need, they all respected me hence it will be difficult for me to choose one out of these because if I choose one, I would be disrespecting the other.”
The South African spinner was further asked about the best batter he has ever bowled to in ODI cricket and he chose Virat Kohli, reasoning that he was fantastic against spin and Tahir had to think twice before bowling against him.
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Explaining the same, Imran Tahir said, “I was a bit lucky that most of the great players played in my team such as AB De Villiers, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock and Jacques Kallis. But from the ones that I have bowled against, and found him to be the greatest player in ODI cricket, is Virat Kohli. He was fantastic against spin. Whenever I was bowling against him I had think twice which ball to bowl. Hence, Virat Kohli is the most difficult batter for me to bowl against in modern cricket.”
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Imran Tahir dismissed Kohli during the ODI World 2015 match between India and South Africa. The Pakistan-born spinner is also the second-oldest player to pick a five-wicket haul in ODI cricket, achieving the feat against Zimbabwe in October, 2018 at the age of 39 years and 190 days.
