Pakistan fast bowler Sohail Tanvir is considered to be an immensely skilful bowler. The awkward wrong-footed action of the left-arm seamer has made life difficult for plenty of batsmen. His unconventional bowling style made him a success story during the initial days of his career.
Sohail Tanvir was also the highest wicket-taker in the inaugural season of the Indian premier league back in 2008. He played a defining role in helping his side Rajasthan Royal become champions in that season. Tanvir recently recalled his most memorable wicket delivery which he called it as ‘ball of my life’.
Sohail Tanvir reveals his dream delivery
Tanvir dismissed Rahul Dravid in his very first Test match at Delhi. The fast bowlers rated that ball as his most memorable and best wicket in his career. Tanvir said that he drew inspiration from his idol Wasim Akram who dismissed Dravid with a similar delivery. Tanvir wanted to emulate the delivery of Akram and wanted to beat the rock-solid defence of Dravid.
“Initially I wasn’t a part of the squad. I was part of the ODIs. Umar Gul got injured accidentally. The way I got Dravid out on my debut, I still remember it was ‘ball of my life. I remember Wasim Akram had once dismissed Dravid with the same length, the same line, the same delivery. The ball swung from left stump and clipped off the off-stump. It was my dream delivery”, said Tanvir on a YouTube show called ‘Cric Cast’.
Test career ended abruptly
Tanvir also talked about bowling to other great India batsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly. The fast bowler today regrets about not playing enough Test cricket after his initial success. Tanvir is now a T20 specialist but he still reckons he can make it big even in red-ball cricket. The fast bowler could only play 2 Test matches in his career and wasn’t given a chance after his debut series.
“Bowling against the greats like Dravid, Sachin, Laxman, and Ganguly especially in India was remarkable. These are the guys that have made thousands of runs in Test cricket. They have so many achievements. Especially if you talk about Rahul Dravid, he was called the wall. Breaking through his defense was very hard, being a youngster, and especially it being a surprise call since I wasn’t prepared for the Test side at the time”.
He added, “My self-belief and confidence has helped me throughout my career. I bowled well in the first Test. I took three back-to-back wickets. I got Ganguly, Dravid and Harbhajan Singh out and got our side back into that Test.”
“Unfortunately, my Test career ended there. That was very unfortunate. Even when I think about it today, I think I could have played a lot more Tests for Pakistan. People call me a T20 specialist and white-ball cricketer but nobody knows about my strengths. They don’t know what I am capable of with the red-ball. If you look at my stats or ask people I have played against, you can get an idea. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get many chances”, Tanvir concluded.
