Given the number of teams that Imran Tahir has played for and the amount of travelling his first-class career has entailed, it came as quite a shock when so many followers of South African cricket raised their eyebrows and said “Imran who?” when he was called into the Proteas squad before the Wanderers Test.
The 30-year-old Tahir was born into a poor family in Lahore 30 years ago and had all the usual dreams of playing for his native country during his school days. He certainly had more talent than the average pupil, but there was nothing at an early age to suggest that he was a prodigy.
But as he grew stronger through his teenage years, he was promoted to the national under-19 ranks before earning a Pakistan “A” cap in 2005.
Along the way, the young Tahir came to realise that his title — “first-class leg spinner from Pakistan” — enjoyed the same status in the cricket-playing world as watches from Switzerland and wine from Meerlust. People were happy to pay for his services without so much as a blind tasting.
Even in Pakistan he has moved from his home club, Lahore, to four other teams since making his first-class debut back in 1996 but it is in the English county championship, where quality leg-spinners are as thin on the ground as they are in South Africa, where his services have been mostly eagerly sought.
Minor county Staffordshire grabbed him before any of the bigger boys noticed, but since then he has represented Yorkshire, Middlesex and Hampshire before signing a fourth contract to play for Warwickshire in the 2010 season.
The merest glance at his first-class record is enough to understand why there has been a willingness to pay. In 101 matches he has claimed 419 wickets at an average 25,42, enough to persuade any coach to have him on board and in the starting XI. Well, almost any coach.
“There’s no doubt whatsoever that he is international class, but you have to do your homework on the man to get the best out of him,” says Tahir’s former Titans mentor, Richard Pybus.
“If Imran gets the chance to play for South Africa and Mickey [Arthur] and Graeme [Smith] think they can just chuck him the ball and let him get on with it, then they’ll probably be very disappointed. Immy has all the variations and tricks of the trade — and the trouble is that he wants to use them all the time too!
“To get the best out of Imran, you need to give him very, very clear game plans and you need to make certain that he understands them and sticks to them. At the Titans he had two strong captains in Martin van Jaarsveld and Pierre Joubert, and he bowled beautifully in tandem with Paul Harris because Harry would constantly remind him what their objective was with a certain batsman and make sure he stuck with it,” Pybus said.
Tahir, by inclination as well as ability, is a strike bowler rather than a “build pressure” spinner like Harris. As such he has a tendency to become impatient and look for the “miracle ball”, according to Pybus. “Such is his skill that sometimes he can produce the miracle ball, too, but more often than not he just gets even more frustrated and loses control.”
Unlike some naturally gifted cricketers, Tahir has never taken his talent for granted and has paid his own way on a few occasions to visit the first modern-day genius of leg spin, Abdul Qadir. At Qadir’s academy in Lahore Tahir spoke for hours to the genial genius, dissecting every aspect of the art and craft of wrist spin.
“There’s no doubt about his love for the game and for the part he plays in it. He is an intelligent bowler, too — when he’s got a good game plan and is sticking to it!” Pybus said.
Sadly, despite marrying a Durban woman and qualifying for permanent residence and a South African passport at the end of last year, Tahir does not qualify to play for the Proteas for another nine months. His call-up to the national squad this week was as embarrassing as it was premature.
“The ICC regulations stipulate that a player must be resident in a country for a minimum of 183 days for four consecutive years to qualify for that country and that he has not played for another country in that time. They are the only criteria that matter,” says South Africa Cricketers’ Association chief executive Tony Irish.
“We must all accept some blame for not checking the facts — the Titans, the selectors, Cricket South Africa, the Players’ Association — all of us.”
Tahir will be 31 years old by the time he does finally qualify at the beginning of next season, in October, but by most accounts it will still be worth the wait.