Tanvir Eager to Make his Mark After Securing Hampshire Move
Jun 8 2013
New Hampshire signing Sohail Tanvir spoke of his excitement to be joining the club on his first day training at The Ageas Bowl.
The Pakistani all-rounder said: “This is my first experience playing {English} county cricket and I’m very excited. I’m enjoying it so far, I’ve got a session with the coaches today; bit of bowling to get used to everything.
I’ve played all over the world but somehow haven’t had the chance in {English} county cricket so hopefully I can make the most of it.”
The left-armer is hugely experienced in the limited-overs formats, appearing 50 times for Pakistan in One-Day Internationals and featuring in 123 twenty20 matches since his debut in 2004. But Tanvir wants to use his time at Hampshire to brush of his limited overs specialist tag: “I want to prove myself that I’m good enough to play the longer form of the game and that’s one of the reasons why I signed for the club. Wednesday should be my four-day debut and I’m really excited!”
He also played a key role in this year’s South-African twenty20 competition, winning the tournament alongside Hampshire batsman Neil McKenzie with the Highveld Lions.
And the 28-year old is very fond the South-African: “He {Neil McKenzie} is the funniest guy! He’s always joking in the dressing room but when it comes to cricket he’s really intelligent. He knows a lot about cricket and that’s the important thing.”
Tanvir isn’t the first Pakistani to feature to Hampshire and he revealed he spoke to a couple of ex-Hants players ahead of his move: “I spoke to him (Shahid Afridi) when we were together in Karachi in April. I also spoke to Wasim Akram because he played here too so I got some good information about the pitch and hopefully it’ll help me.”
One thing that makes Tanvir stand out from the rest is his unorthodox action. But the left-armer feels it’s something that helps his cricket: “When I first saw my action on TV I was surprised! That’s the first time I realised it was something different. But I’m happy with it, it’s natural and it’s just how it is. It’s given me a lot of benefits like the ability to swing the ball in the past.”
Tanvir, who could make his debut in Hampshire’s LV= County Championship against Gloucestershire on Wednesday, has assure Hampshire fans he’ll give all he can to the cause: “As an individual I always look game by game, I don’t set too hard targets. But I thing I can assure is that I’ll give 100% effort and try my best to do well.”
Here is the full interview with Hampshire's latest signing: