Imran Tahir suddenly withdrew from the ongoing Big Bash League due to personal reasons.
He was going to arrive for playing Big Bash League which was delayed. The South African Spinner’s expected arrival needed to be in 1st week of December and the Australian government’s rule that requires foreign players to undergo a 14-day quarantine in a hotel room before being allowed to play.
The Melbourne Renegades coach Michael Klinger said that Tahir pulling out of the tournament is a blow. However, He was replaced by the 15-year-old bowler Noor Ahmad, who bowled impressive in the game against Hobart Hurricanes. The chinaman bowler would have additional responsibility on his shoulders, with Mohammad Nabi set to go home to fulfill ‘international duty’.
“Unfortunately, Imran is not coming for personal reasons,” Klinger noted. “He’s a great player so it is a loss. But at the same time we’ve seen Noor Ahmad a couple of games ago, a bowler who people haven’t seen that much, it might actually work in our favor. He’ll now be able to play a fair chunk of that back end of the season, with Imad Wasim. Nabi has to go home for international duty. It is a loss but at the same time what a huge opportunity for young Noor to come in and have a huge impact on the BBL.”
Melbourne Renegades struggled to make any big impact in the season, they were only able to win only 1 match. If they might have Imran Tahir in the team then they might be not in the bottom in the Big Bash League.
“The mood is still pretty good because we know what we’re capable of doing. We saw in game one how well we played. We know we’ve got the ability in the group to really come out and perform well.”