Imran Tahir embarrassed himself by mocking the crowd during the practice game

South Africa’s Pakistan-born spinner Imran Tahir was in for an embarrassment in a warm-up game on October 31 when he caught a catch off a no-ball and taunted the local crowd behind him. This happened in Canberra where the touring South Africans took on an inexperienced Australian Prime Minister’s XI and lost the match by 4 wickets. It was not the start that the visitors would have wanted to the series Down Under.

It all happened in the sixth over during the PM XI’s chase when the batsman, Josh Philippe pulled a no-ball from pacer Kagiso Rabada to find the hands of Tahir at the deep fine leg. The bowler, however, did not notice the umpire’s decision and after catching the ball, he looked back at the crowd behind him and then showed them the name on the back of his shirt. By the time he threw back the ball to the middle in full zest, the PM XI batsmen had already taken two runs, leaving the commentators amused.

“What is he doing down there,” asked one Fox Sports commentator while another said, “Did not hear the no-ball call.” In fact, Tahir’s subsequent gesture of pointing to his shirt back once again after the incident meant the cricketer did not have any idea of what had happened even minutes later. The commentators were in splits this time.

Here’s the video:

Imran Tahir might want to check if it was a no ball first 😂😂😂 #FoxCricket #PMXIvSA pic.twitter.com/zDvOs74n9h

— FOX SPORTS Cricket (@FoxCricket) October 31, 2018

Tahir was upset for some reason

The 39-year-old leg-break bowler who has nearly 270 international wickets had an ordinary day in the field as he fell for a duck and gave away 47 runs in 10 overs taking just one wicket. He surely had some unpleasant experience with the crowd which made his body language outspoken after taking the catch off an illegal delivery.

As far as the match is concerned, the tourists won the toss and elected to bat but endured a collapse as they were all out for 173 in 42 overs. Opener Aiden Markram top scored with 47. The PM’s XI had a moment of concern as they were reduced to 87 for 5 but a couple of half-centuries from Philippe and skipper George Bailey and a late-innings flourish from Jason Sangha saw them home in just 36.3 overs. Philippe was awarded the Man of the Match.

The Proteas will be playing three ODIs and one T20I during their two-week long tour of Australia. The first ODI will be played in Perth on November 4. This is the first time that the two teams are meeting each other since their tainted Test series played in South Africa earlier this year.

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