Cricket Buzz: Imran Tahir may join Daredevils

With their spin cupboard in the ongoing Indian Premier League almost bare, Delhi Daredevils are likely to rope in South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir to bolster their slow bowling department.

Currently the Daredevils have only two specialist spin bowlers in left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and leg-spinner Rahul Sharma.

Tahir was not picked at the auction but had a fantastic ICC World T20 in Bangladesh where he was one of the top wicket-takers, with 12 scalps in the tournament, at a very economical average.

Tahir's experience of having plied his trade in T20 cricket in England and South Africa will also come handy. He has played 12 T20 Internationals, taking 21 wickets. He also played 91 T20 matches, taking 99 wickets with a decent economy rate of 6.42.

The Daredevils are handicapped following pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile injury.

The Australian bowler got injured while fielding in Daredevils' match against Chennai Super Kings three balls into the match. He was subsequently ruled out for the entire edition of the tournament.

"Tahir is the likely choice as DD is desperately short on their spin department. There were talks of him joining the team in UAE but it has been delayed. Hopefully, it will be cleared in a day or two," a BCCI official involved with IPL activities said on Monday.

While Daredevils skipper Pietersen had always put up brave front about his spin bowling department, the team is certainly a bit short on experience.

Left-arm spinner Nadeem has picked four wickets from five games with an economy rate of shade under 8 (7.98 runs per over).

The other spinner, Rahul Sharma, was hammered for 33 runs in three overs in the opening game and never got a look-in in the next four encounters.

Daredevils has a decent set of fast bowlers in Mohammed Shami, Jaydev Unadkat, Wayne Parnell and seamer all-rounder like Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Jimmy Neesham.

With two specialist spinners being the order of the day at the Feroz Shah Kotla, it looks like a good decision to include the 35-year-old Pakistan-born South African cricketer, who has 36 wickets from 13 Tests.

He has also played 13 ODIs, taking 26 wickets for the Proteas.

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Encouraged by the presence of many "team players", Kolkata Knight Riders bowling coach Wasim Akram has expressed confidence that his side will make it to the final four in the IPL as they have a "good enough" bowling attack.

"We just went for the players we thought are team players and obviously individual match winners, Yusuf is there, Shakib-al-Hasan, Robin Uthappa, Andre Russell. All these guys are team people and a team sport needs players who support each other when things are bad," Akram said.

"There will be a rough time. You'll lose couple of games on the trot, which will happen; it's a long tournament. But, it was decision made by the management; we want boys who could actually be good team players apart from being individual match winners," the former Pakistani skipper said on whether KKR had consciously stayed away from star players this time.

Asked whether he sees KKR in the final four in this year's edition of the Indian Premier League, he replied: “I would love to. Yes I can see KKR. I would like to see KKR in the finals. We have good enough team, we have good enough bowling, fielding has been consistent. So, yes, there is always a chance."

Akram, who was part of the KKR dug-out during three IPL editions from 2010 to 2012, said his job is to talk to the bowlers, talk to the captain about strategy and encourage the batsmen.

"With my experience in cricket, I have played like 21 years internationally. I have ideas to give to them and they are enjoying. Its early dose in this tournament but everybody seems to be enjoying each others company. That's always a good sign before a big tournament," he said.

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A new low has been achieved in the world of cricket, with a team playing the Cheshire League in England, being bowled out for three runs -- two of which were leg byes.

According to The Guardian, Wirral CC felt they had a good chance of beating Haslington in the TACS Partnership Cheshire League Division Three match after bowling out their opponents for 108 in Saturday's clash, but shockingly, their first 10 batsmen returned to the pavilion with ducks against their names.

The only run was scored by the number 11 batsman, Connor Hodson.

The team has its third league match of the season next week.

A new book has reportedly revealed that a cricket team from Worcestershire had visited Germany in 1937 to play in three matches organised by members of the Nazi hierarchy who had developed an interest in the sport.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) recorded the 1937 visit by the Gentlemen of Worcestershire cricket club to Berlin, which is mentioned in the book 'Field of Shadows' authored by British writer Dan Waddell.

According to the BBC, the Nazi Reichsportsfuhrer Hans von Tschammer und Osten, who had visited England to watch a Davis Cup tennis semi-final between Germany and USA at Wimbledon and a Lord's county match, may have met Maj Maurice Jewell, a stalwart of the Gentlemen team, and asked him to bring a cricket team to Berlin.

The report mentioned that the Gents, as they are still known, are one of the oldest surviving cricket teams in the world- they played their first match in 1848 and is a wandering or nomadic club with no home ground.

Wadell wrote in his book that after the Nazi minister's request, Jewell was able to rustle up a team of wealthy gentlemen, five of whom had played first class cricket for Worcestershire, as well public schoolboys who could travel within a few weeks to Berlin, adding that the team won all the three of the matches comfortably.

The book also mentioned that the team arrived in Berlin as the city was celebrating its 700th anniversary in an event manufactured by Nazi propagandists and the Gents were asked to give the Nazi salute before their first match, which they were forced to oblige.

The report further mentioned that atmosphere of intrigue around the tour led to speculation that one of the English players might have been a spy.