Hashim Amla reveals the best T20 bowler he has faced

Hashim Amla picked out fellow Protean Imran Tahir as the world’s best T20 bowler at present citing the leg-spinner’s ability to bowl in the death overs as a rare quality. Consequently, Amla named AB de Villiers and Chris Morris as the two other players who stand out from the rest in the shortest formats of the game.

Imran Tahir is one of the most valued bowlers in limited-overs cricket and the ICC rankings are a proof. He is ranked third in the ICC T20I player rankings while he is only behind Australia’s Josh Hazlewood in the ODI rankings. He is one of the most sought after bowlers in the leagues.

When he was unsold in the IPL auctions despite being the No. 1 T20I bowler during that time, the world was shocked, but Tahir turned things around when he was roped in by Rising Pune Supergiant later. He ended up being among the leading wicket-takers and topped it for most part of the season. Now, he is now set to show his prowess in the format in his own country’s inaugural edition of the Global T20 League while representing Port Elizabeth.

“Thankfully, I have played Tahir in domestic cricket and not international cricket. He has a lot of variations. He is one of the bowlers who always looks to take wickets,” Amla said.

“You don’t have too many spinners in the world who bowl at the back-end of the innings. You will see fast bowlers who bowl bouncers and yorkers but you don’t see spinners who bowl at the end of the innings. His variations make him special,” he added.

Amla and Tahir are both named in the 14-man squad along with team-mates Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir for the World XI squad that is set to Tour Pakistan. Amla is confident that Tahir will be a handful for the Pakistan team who will be high on confidence following their success at the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and also because they will finally get to play in their homeland.