Tahir Mughal

Tahir Mughal (born April 25, 1977) is a Pakistani cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a destructive medium-fast bowler who has hit seven ten-wicket innings in a first-class career which now spans nearly ten years. He was born in Daska.

Mughal's career began with Gujranwala, for whom he began playing in the 1997/98 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy season. Mughal was the most frequent Gujranwala player in the competition, batting in seven of the nine matches played and in twelve innings. During this season he bowled two five-wicket innings, and made his first ten-wicket haul, against Lahore City, finishing with match figures of 10-112, achieved in just his second first-class match. Of all the Gujranwala players who finished the season's competition with a better average, only one had bowled even half as many balls as he had.

Mughal played one match in the 1998/99 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for Gujranwala prior to their next big competition, the PCB Patron's Trophy. Having played his final game for the team in the competition, a draw against Faisalabad, he switched teams in October 1998, moving to the Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan. Mughal had previously played for ADBP during their 1997/98 run in the Wills Cup, and although he saw them past the group stages, he couldn't get them through to the knockout rounds. This was to prove an exceptional buy for a team who, without a win in the previous season, went undefeated and finished top of the 1998/99 table. Tahir finished the season with another half-century, despite being pushed down the batting line-up. However, in the final, ADBP underperformed, and were sent crashing to an innings defeat by Habib Bank Limited.

Mughal's second chance with Gujranwala saw him debut confidently despite a position in the lower-middle order, making a steady innings of 25, despite the team finishing the game close to an innings defeat. He finished the season having scored one half-century, and making five catches as an outfielder. He moved back to ADBP for the 2000/01 season, though he only played one game, in the PCB Trophy. The 2002/03 season saw him move to Sialkot, for whom he debuted in December 2002 "against" his old team, Gujranwala, having played earlier in the same season for the PCB Whites in the One-day Ramadan Cup.

In spite of his experience, he only lasted two seasons with Sialkot, though he took three five-wicket hauls during his debut 2002/03 campaign. The team finished in second place in the 2003/04 Trophy table, and, at the end of the 2004 season, Mughal moved to England in search of a first-class county.

His search was not entirely fruitless, as Durham agreed to sign him at the beginning of the season, however, along with team-mate and fellow overseas player Pallav Kumar, and with competition from eight other debutantes in that season alone, he failed to make an impression and was out of the team after just a single game. He moved back to Pakistan and played in the Patron's Trophy competition of 2004/05 for an Allied Bank Limited team which finished in third position in Group A. The following season, he played in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, once again representing Sialkot, and, thanks to a century from team-mate Shahid Yousuf, and a sudden batting collapse from opponents Faisalabad, Sialkot finished with an innings victory.

Mughal began 2006 with Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, who finished top of their group in the 2005/06 table, and finished the 2005/06 season with Sialkot. As of the beginning of the 2006/07 season, he has started playing for the National Bank of Pakistan. To date he has played 96 first class matches, bowled 18203 deliveries, given away 9843 runs, taken 453 wickets at an average of 21.72 with a mere economy rate of 3.24 with a strike rate of 40.1 (amongst the best in the world) with the best figures of 7/50 in an innings. He has 35 five wicket hauls in an innings and 7 ten wicket haul in a match.

For the past 4 seasons he has been Bignall End C.C professional in the North Staffordshire cricket league

External links

* [http://cricketarchive.com/Players/19/19807/19807.html Tahir Mughal] at Cricket Archive