Abdul Qadir was my main role model. I just wanted to be like him because, for me, he was only guy who no one could read. He was that good. His passion, his love for legspin, was unique. He would create new things all the time: flippers, sliders, three to four kinds of googlies, legspinners, topspinners.

People think of me as well-travelled, but I had not been out of Pakistan until I was picked in the Under-19 squad in 1997. The flight went from Lahore to Karachi and then from Karachi to South Africa. It was my first time on a plane and my first trip overseas.

The googly and the slider are my favourite type of deliveries, and I love it when batsmen try to cut or sweep me and, while attempting those strokes, get lbw or clean bowled.

Imran Tahir Quotes