WT20: Imran Tahir gives South Africa wings

MUMBAI: When you think of a good leg-spinner, the first image that comes to mind is of a bowler spinning a web of lure around the batsman, beating him with flight, turn and variations. Imran Tahir can do all that, but the abiding image with this crafty South African bowler is of a man, arms spread out and sprinting across the field in celebration after snaring a wicket.
While most of South Africa look forward to it, there are some people who find his style of `partying' slightly over-enthusiastic. The 36-year-old, though, is unabashed about hi s signature move.“Everything is special for me. I need to celebrate, and why not?“ he says, “I'm not going to get an opportunity (to do it) after five years. I would rather enjoy myself as such now. I play with passion and I don't care what others think.“
Being the Proteas frontline spinner, there will be pressure on Tahir to come good in conditions which should favour his art. The Lahore-born tweaker, though, refused that it would be a factor. “I don't think so. A lot of players in this team have been playing cricket together. I have got good communication with captains, there is no pressure on me. Even if I had it, I wasn't going to tell you. I'm pretty happy in the space that I'm in,“ he said.
In a format where the batsmen are looking to go after the bowling all the time, a leg spinner can be a risky option for a captain, but Tahir has learnt to survive and even flourish in this unforgiving T20 world, where his economy rate is a fantastic 6.72. “A leg spin ner can change the game. For me, leg spinners need to have a bigger heart than anyone else, because it's easy to blame them. The bats are bigger boundaries are shorter, but if you bowl with a plan, you'll get success. The most important thing is to back yourself, because if you are hit for bound aries, then you try and `hide.' But that's is not the best way to go forward You'd rather go with an attacking mind ... that's why you need to have a bigger heart,“ explained Tahir.
Tahir said he relished batsmen giving him a charge, Tahir said: “It's a nice thing. If they try to attack me I can use my variations,“ he added.
Not surprisingly, Tahir doesn't accept the tag of Proteas as the perennial chokers of world cricket. “We always get into semifinal and then lose. This is one of the biggest achievements -to get into semifinal and not many teams do that,“ he pointed out.