Imran Tahir

Imran Tahir moved from Pakistan to South Africa via the UK for the love of a woman. He also played for more than 50 teams, including six English T20 sides, three South African franchises and as many IPL teams, while making a reputation as one of the best limited-overs legspinners of his time.

A feisty character, known for a wicket-celebration sprint longer than most fast bowlers' run-ups, and a range of variations, Tahir made the googly his biggest weapon in white-ball cricket, and in the second half of his career turned himself into a successful globetrotting T20 journeyman.

When he arrived in South Africa late in the first decade of the 21st century, where about ten years previously he had met the woman who would become his wife, he had a handful of domestic matches in Pakistan under his belt. He soon established himself in the first-class set-up, becoming the third highest wicket-taker in the 2008-09 first-class competition and consistently picked up wickets in 2010-11 season, when he also became a citizen.

Less than a week after he was naturalised, Tahir was picked in South Africa's squad for ODIs against India, but he had to wait until the 2011 World Cup for his debut. He made an immediate impact there, finishing the tournament as South Africa's second-highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets from five matches. That summer, he also made his Test debut, against Australia in Cape Town, in the same match as Vernon Philander. It soon became clear, though, that Test cricket wasn't quite his format, and when he was dropped after his 11th match, against Australia in Adelaide in November 2012, where he conceded 260 and took no wickets, it seemed the world had seen the last of him in five-day cricket.

He came back after a year for South Africa's tour to the UAE in October 2013, where he played against his former countrymen and took his first Test five-for, but it was a false dawn. Two years and eight Tests later, that part of his career was done; he finished with the unflattering average of 40.

Tahir went on to carve a niche for himself in the shorter formats, where he earned a reputation for being able to contain in the middle periods of matches while also taking wickets. In the first of the two T20 World Cups he played, in Bangladesh in 2014, he took 12 wickets in five games. Two years later he was No. 1 on the ICC's rankings of the world's best T20I bowlers.

As a T20 gun for hire, Tahir was something of a revelation. He took 18 wickets for Guyana Amazon Warriors in their title-winning 2023 CPL campaign, and by the end of the first decade of that competition, was the only non-West Indian to feature among the top ten wicket-takers. His T20I career for South Africa came to an end in 2019 - he signed off with two five-fors in his last five games, possibly giving the national selectors pause.

In the PSL, he spent six seasons at Multan Sultans, winning the title with them in 2021, when he took 13 wickets at an average of 13. For Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, Tahir was a presence for eight seasons - but though he won the title twice with them, his best season, 2019, where he took 26 wickets, ended in heartbreak when they finished on the wrong side of a one-wicket margin.