Top 5 spells by Imran Tahir

#1 7/45 vs West Indies at Basseterre, 2016

Tahir bowled the best spell by a South African bowler in ODIs

Anybody who has followed Imran Tahir’s progress in ODIs will not be surprised to see this spell at the top of the list. In his ODI career till date, Tahir has picked up two five-wicket hauls and both of them have come against West Indies.

This spell came during the West Indies-South Africa-Australia tri-series in June 2016. It was the 6th match of the tri-series and South Africa were up against West Indies at Basseterre where they had suffered a 36-run defeat against Australia four days back.

West Indies won the toss and skipper Jason Holder decided to field first. South Africa posted a mammoth 343/4 from their 50 overs thanks to Hashim Amla’s 110 and scores of 73 and 71 from Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock respectively. Amla became the fastest to reach 23 centuries, doing so in 132 innings.

West Indies began the run chase well with openers Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles adding 69 for the first wicket. At this point, Tahir came in and broke the opening partnership before cleaning up one Windies batsman after another. Tahir ended up picking 7 wickets for 45 runs as West Indies were bowled out for just 204, giving South Africa a win by 139 runs.

In the process, the leggie bettered Rabada’s 6/16 against Bangladesh which came nearly a year ago. Tahir’s spell is also the 3rd best ODI spell by a spinner and the 11th best ODI spell by any bowler. He was unsurprisingly adjudged the Man of the Match.