T20 World Cup 2021: Don’t blame Indian cricketers for playing in IPL before tournament, says Imran Tahir

Imran Tahir was part of the Chennai Super Kings team which won the IPL 2021 title last month. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Former South Africa and Chennai Super Kings leg-spinner Imran Tahir is a veteran when it comes to the shortest format of the game. Tahir, who is 42 years of age, has turned out in 334 T20 games over the years in franchise leagues all around the globe. In the Indian Premier League alone, Tahir has 82 wickets in 59 games since making his debut in the league back in 2014.

After Team India’s second successive loss in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 fans are blaming the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 for their poor show. India and Mumbai Indians paceman Jasprit Bumrah came on record to say that the cricketers are suffering from ‘bubble fatigue’. Imran Tahir brushed all these allegations aside saying that most of the cricketers are coming directly after playing in some franchise league.

“It is not right to blame the Indian Premier League for Team India’s poor performance. All the players are taking part in some league around the world. In T20 cricket, if you don’t perform on the day, you end up on the losing side. You shouldn’t blame the players like this,” Tahir, who will turning out in the Abu Dhabi T10 league later this month, said during a virtual interaction.

Although he is 42 years of age, Tahir believes that there is no substitute for experience in T10 or the T20 format. The former South Africa leg-spinner gave the example of IPL 2021 champions Chennai Super Kings to prove his point.

Gave it a try and it came out well I guess #whistle podu moment @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/cY2WRrbIK4

— Imran Tahir (@ImranTahirSA) April 9, 2019

“No one rated CSK a couple of years back. The average age of the CSK side is 32 years but we have managed to win the IPL title twice in the last three years in spite of that. So there is no substitute for experience,” Tahir said.

Asked his opinion about the rise of leg-spinner and chinaman bowlers in the T20 World Cup 2021, Tahir said, “Leg-spin or chinaman bowling are both very attacking options. Wrist spinners can change the game very quickly. It is lovely to see (Tabraiz) Shamsi, Adil Rashid and Rashid Khan doing so well for their sides.”