Ageless Imran Tahir credits son for driving him to historic fifer in CPL

Georgetown, Sep 11 (IANS) After becoming the oldest bowler to claim a five-wicket haul in T20 history at the age of 47, veteran leg-spinner Imran Tahir revealed that his young son remains the primary inspiration behind his refusal to hang up his boots.

Tahir returned with figures of 5-17 in four overs to set up a comprehensive victory for Guyana Amazon Warriors over St Lucia Kings at the Providence Stadium. The spell was Tahir’s career-best in the shortest format, coming in his 461st T20 appearance – a journey that began two decades ago in Pakistan’s domestic circuit back in 2006.

“For me, my role is obviously to contain (the opposition) in the middle. I’m an attacking bowler. If the wickets come, I don’t mind. I think my son is the main guy who has been pushing me.

“He keeps telling me, ‘Daddy, one more year…one more year and then you need to play with me’. So, it’s a kind of motivation, I want to give it to him and all the youngsters who are watching me around the world,” Tahir was quoted as saying by Cricinfo on Friday.

Reflecting on his historic feat, Tahir elaborated on the effort behind his longevity on the circuit. “I put a lot of hard work into it and it’s nice to see how it comes out the way you want it. It’s not the personal achievement I look for. We work hard to get the personal achievement but I’m very lucky I delivered today.”

Tahir’s masterclass helped the Amazon Warriors rebound instantly from their first defeat of the season against Antigua & Barbuda Falcons. The leg-spinner trapped Kamil Pooran lbw for 43 with a sharp googly before cleaning up all-rounder Matthew Forde with a delivery that zipped through off-stump.

“It was a little bit turning for me, so I had to show a bit of my leggings (also). Two or three spun away. I think that plays in the batters’ head and I’ve got my straighter one, which I can bowl and I can keep tricking batsmen – they wait for my straighter one and googly…and the way the ball comes out of my hand was really good.

“My lines and lengths were very good. It pitched on line and obviously turned very sharply. In Providence, you get that, but in the previous two games, I wasn’t getting that kind of bite, but the credit goes to the length I bowled, I think,” he concluded.

–IANS

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