How Tahir's world spun around love for Sumayya

Cricket takes you across various continents and for Imran Tahir it was a combination of cricket and love that made him embark upon a life-changing journey. It was love for Sumayya Dildar, a South African of Indian descent in Durban, that brought Tahir to the Rainbow Nation in 2006, but it's cricket now that is keeping them apart.

Tahir, who fell in love with Sumayya on his first visit to South Africa in 1998 with the Pakistan Under-19 team, has a son (Gibran) now, who is barely a year old. International success over the last couple of years has come at a price for the South African legspinner, who has missed eight months of his son's life.

"I am lucky that I have my wife Sumayya and son Gibran in my life. But it is really tough on them. My son is about a year old and for eight months out of those I haven't seen him. They were with me for a couple of months in Australia during the World Cup which was really nice," Tahir told TOI on Sunday. "It is really tough from their point of view. My wife understands the job. I get to see them everyday over Skype. It's not how you want things to be but at least it's there," he said.

He made the big decision to move to South Africa in 2006 with support from the Titans franchise and close friend Ghulam Bodi. "When we made the decision it wasn't easy for any of us. I wanted to achieve something in life, I knew that I had the talent and wanted to play at the highest level. It was hard for the first couple of years in South Africa. We were thinking differently, but both of us remained positive," the Durban-based legspinner recalled.

"The Lahore-born spinner was labelled as a Test specialist when he made his debut for South Africa in 2011 against Australia. Four years down the line, Tahir has become a genuine match-winner in ODIs and is the leading wicket-taker in IPL 8 (9 wickets) where he is plying his trade for the Delhi Daredevils.

His stats this year make for impressive reading. In 11 ODIs, he has picked up 23 wickets at a phenomenal average of 19.17. His economy rate of 4.41 too is equally impressive. "I just call it hard work which I had put in before the World T20 Championships in Bangladesh. I have spoken to a lot of senior guys like (Hashim) Amla, (JP) Duminy, Faf (du Plessis) and AB (de Villiers). I talk about how I should bowl in different situations and that helped me a lot," the 36-year-old said.

One of the aspects that he has greatly improved on is accuracy and Tahir credits it to the calm leadership of captains like Amla and his Daredevils skipper Duminy. "Two years back, I used to bowl at least one bad ball. Now my captains help me out in planning what I need to do and what pace I need to bowl at. Amla, AB and Duminy are all calm personalities. They have been really supportive. It is a massive thing if a leader backs you. Then you don't doubt yourselves," he said.

Despite enjoying a lot of success on the international stage, Tahir remains a modest man who doesn't mind learning from teammates like fellow legspinner Amit Mishra. "The first day I met him (Mishra), I told him that if I want to learn something, I'll come and ask you. Please don't get angry. He's the one who's been building pressure and I am lucky to pick up the wickets," Tahir stressed.