Imran Tahir joins an elite list of bowlers with 500 T20 wickets

Former South Africa international leg-spinner Imran Tahir has become the latest to join the elite list of bowlers to scalp 500 T20 wickets while playing for the Rangpur Riders in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League 2024 edition. Tahir achieved this incredible feat during the Riders’ league stage clash against Khulna Tigers at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. 

Imran Tahir reached the incredible personal milestone in the best way possible as he racked up a man of the match winning a 5-wicket haul by giving away just 26 runs in his quota of 4 overs. He spun the web of his deceiving leg spin during the 2nd innings of the match when Khulna Tigers were attempting to chase down a mammoth target of 220.

Imran Tahir turns the game on its head with a stunning 5-wicket haul in BPL 2024! Unleashing magic on the field! 🔥✨
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.#BPL2024 #BPLonFanCode pic.twitter.com/hus2yOWisq

— FanCode (@FanCode) February 13, 2024

On the back of his outstanding bowling performance, the Rangpur Riders clinched victory by 78 runs as the Tigers were bowled out for just 141 within 18.2 overs. With that win, the Riders claimed the top spot in the Bangladesh Premier League points table with 14 points and they are now just another victory away from reaching the play-off stages.

Rangpur Riders were playing on their home ground at Chattogram and had elected to bat first after winning the coin toss. Number 3 and 4 batters Shakib Al Hasan and Mahedi Hasan took the charge in the middle following a crumbling start given by Rony Talukdar and Reeza Hendricks. On the back of Shakib’s 69 and Mahedi’s 60 and short contributions from Nurul Hasan and Jimmy Neesham, the Riders posted 220 as the target to chase.

Their batting performances were supported by the bowling act of Imran Tahir who picked up terrific line lengths and also brought out some unusual celebrations. His first wicket of the night was Khulna Tigers’ captain Anamul Haque whose leading edge up in the air was caught by mid-on fielder Hasan Mahmud. Tahir recreated his famous celebration of running all over the field and also pulled off the famous Cristiano Ronaldo celebration after claiming his first of the five-for.

Then in his 2nd over, Imran Tahir doubled his tally by removing Afif Hussain before tripling it in his 3rd over of the spell by getting the important wicket of the dangerous Alex Hales for 60 then in the final ball, Tahir bowled a flipper to get the lbw of Akbar Ali for a 2-ball duck.

In his final over of the match, the 44-year-old named Habibur Rahman as his 5th wicket of the night while Mahedi Hasan (1), Shakib (2), Hasan Mahmud (1) and Jimmy Neesham (1) took the remaining wickets.

Imran Tahir Joins The 500-Club

With his 5/26, Imran Tahir joined the 500 T20 wicket club, becoming just the 4th bowler in the world to do so. He is now after West Indies legends Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, and Afghanistan’s ace Rashid Khan. Bravo heads the list with 624 wickets in 571 matches, Rashid has 556 scalps in 410 matches and Narine has racked up 532 wickets until now.

Meanwhile, Tahir who retired from the international scene in 2019, has 6 BPL wickets to his name in 2 matches this season. The five-for against Khulna was only his 2nd outing of the latest edition and he proved that if given chance, then his ageing self can contribute much more than the youngsters in Rangpur Riders.