Usman Qadir makes important addition to bowling armoury with Imran Tahir’s help

Pakistan’s leg-spinner Usman Qadir, who has made an impressive start to his international career, has revealed the impact of South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir on his bowling. 

While speaking to Cricket Pakistan in an exclusive interview, Qadir said that he learned to bowl the ‘slider’ with the help of Tahir during the time he spent with the later after the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) season six was postponed in March this year.  

“I practiced with Imran [Tahir] bhai after the PSL was postponed [in March this year] as he was not able to leave Pakistan. I learned a lot from him during that time. I have changed my run up slightly as well, which you would have seen during the Zimbabwe series, and I have a lot more control over it now and it makes me more comfortable. My action now even resembles that of Imran bhai,” he said.

“The slider I bowled in my last ODI [against South Africa] to Jon-Jon Smuts was also something I learned from Imran bhai. I’m working on it inorder to execute it more accurately. When I have more command over it, you will get to see it more often,” he added. 

The Multan Sultans’ cricketer also shed light on the absence of veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who will miss HBL PSL 6 due to injury, ahead of the upcoming matches.  

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“Shahid [Afridi] bhai is a very experienced player and will miss his presence in the squad. We were also discussing the same thing during our practice session yesterday. Obviously, team’s morale also goes down as he is the sort of player who can change the game single-handedly. Hopefully he gets fit soon,” he said. 

Qadir also named Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam as the toughest batsman he has bowled to. 

“In PSL, bowling to Babar Azam is very difficult because he is the sort of batsman who can hit you for a four or six at will. He is always looking to take singles and even scores runs on the good balls,” he said. 

“I would love to get him out on the first ball [in next match against Karachi Kings]. He is a great player and number one batsman in the world. It’s not easy to achieve that feat as there is a lot of hard work and sacrifices behind that,” he added. 

He also believes that the HBL PSL 6, taking place in Abu Dhabi, will help Pakistan prepare for the T20 World Cup, which is also likely to take place in UAE. 

“We will try to understand the conditions here in UAE [during PSL] as it will help us, if the T20 World Cup is also played here. I’m hopeful that the team will do well during the mega event,” he concluded.