Plan against Dhoni came out nicely: Imran Tahir

The Delhi Daredevils lost their home game to Rising Pune Supergiants. However, the silver lining for them in the game was the way Imran Tahir bowled. Tahir bowled a very tight spell until his last over. Speaking to the iplt20.com after the match, the leggie from South Africa talked about the team’s performance, his plan against MS Dhoni and the Kotla wicket.

Imran Tahir exclaimed that the total of 162 was definitely defendable against the Rising Pune Supergiants. He felt the team had come close of doing so and only missed the trick at the end. “It wasn’t so difficult. We have been playing good cricket and we had done things in the past and wanted to carry on like that today. But it was just one of those things really (that the result wasn’t on our side). They played well in the end,” said the leg-spinner.

He also said that the team surely missed the services of Zaheer Khan on the night. Praising Zaheer, Tahir quoted, “He has been bowling great for us and he is a good captain, (it is) nice to have him there. Hope he will be back and be there in the future games.”

When asked about how much does he enjoy bowling at the Ferozeshah Kotla wicket at Delhi, the South African spinner was all praise for the venue. He also thanked the supporters for their support in every home game that they play at Delhi. He hopes that team gets back to winning ways in their next encounter. “I have always enjoyed playing at the Kotla. This is a home for me. Lots of people come and support us. Thanks to them. (There’s) good food as well. It is sad the way it ended here. We wanted to win here and then go on a high note wherever we go from here. But they played good cricket and this is one of those days like I said before. We did what we could and we need to look forward for the next game,” quoted Tahir.

The highlight of the game was the way Tahir choked up MS Dhoni and did not allow him to free his hands to a great deal. He eventually got the priced scalp of the RPS skipper. Commenting on his plans against Dhoni, he said, “The plan is to look for his weakness, which is hard because he is such a strong hitter of the ball. I just took a gamble and it worked. I knew that he was obviously staying back (in the crease) to try to hit me because I was bowling a lot of straight balls. So I thought of bowling towards his legs and see what happened; it could have gone for a six or I could get him out. The gamble worked. And (while) I am happy that it worked, I am sad that we lost.”

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