Proteas leg spinner Imran Tahir continued his good run of form in the opening match of the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
With his national teammates having played the final T20I match of the series against Sri Lanka yesterday, Tahir was already in India where he represents the Chennai Super Kings.
And the 39-year-old Proteas star was the king of Kings in the match, bagging bowling figures of 3/9 as his team beat a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore outfit by seven wickets.
Tahir wasn’t the only South African involved in the match, with former national hero AB de Villiers playing for the RCB.
De Villiers, though, could only score nine runs as his team was bowled out for a skamele40 runs - largely thanks to Tahir and India spinner Harbhajan Singh, who took 3/20 and did most of the damage at the top of the order, with Tahir cleaning up the tail.
With the World Cup around the corner, Tahir’s form will bring a smile to the face of national team coach Ottis Gibson.
Other South Africans that will possibly go to the World Cup and are taking part in this year’s IPL are captain Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za