'Main bhi chhupke fielding karta hoon jab humare net hote hain' - Imran Tahir on his fine fielding tactics against RCB

In a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium, CSK’s veteran spinner Imran Tahir finally got a chance to feature in the Playing XI. Tahir was in a blistering form during the second innings as along with bowling a good spell, he was at his fluent best in fielding too.

On the last ball of the 16th over, the South African star managed to stun the fans as while standing at square leg, he fired a perfect throw to uproot the stumps and send Kyle Jamieson back to the pavilion. As far as bowling is concerned, Imran conceded just 16 runs in his four overs at an economy rate of 4 and picked two wickets of Harshal Patel and Navdeep Saini.

After the game, CSK’s wrecker-in-chief Ravindra Jadeja was involved in an interaction with Imran Tahir and the latter spoke at lengths about his fielding. Explaining the reason behind his brilliant fielding, Tahir reckoned that he is highly inspired by Jadeja and wants to be as active as the all-rounder.

“Main bhi chhupke fielding karta hoon jab humare net hote hain! (I secretly practice my fielding during the nets). I know this is professional cricket, no one can hide on the field. You are in our team, you attack the ball like lightning. I also want to be electric in the field, you inspire youngsters and me as well. Looking at you guys, I try to do my best whenever I am playing,” Tahir revealed in a video uploaded on IPL’s official Twitter handle.

Ravindra Jadeja opines on his spectacular performance with the willow

Ravindra Jadeja seemed highly impressed with the veteran spinner and he lavished praises on Tahir saying, “You are so fit at 42 and that too in T20 format. To put such effort in so much heat, as a player I wonder whether I would be able to contribute like this when I am at your age.”

Jadeja delivered one of the best performances of his cricket career against RCB. He was at his fluent best in all three facets of the game and single-handedly took CSK towards victory. One of the highlights of the entire match was Jadeja slamming as many as 37 runs off Harshal Patel by smashing five maximums and one boundary in the last over of the first innings.

Speaking about his performance, the all-rounder said, “I was very tired before the last over, because I had run a lot of twos before it. When Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) came in the last over, I told him that I will swing my bat at everything because I was very tired and it was really humid. I planned to swing as hard as I can and get the connection. I didn’t expect to connect five times! I am very happy because it helped us win.”

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