Hampshire star Imran Tahir has been challenged to improve his form in time for the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League.

Tahir is in the Pretoria Titans squad that begins its Champions League campaign against Shaun Udal’s Middlesex Crusaders in Chennai on December 5, despite his recent poor form and lack of Twenty20 experience.

The leg spinner’s recent performances in South Africa’s Supersport Series have been below-par by the high standards he has set himself in the last 12 months. Titans coach Richard Pybus believes Tahir has been distracted by the prospect of qualifying for South Africa in April.

The 29-year-old took an incredible 44 wickets at 16.7 in seven Championship matches after being signed by Hampshire midway through last season.

But he has been outbowled by Paul Harris, his Titans teammate and the man he has been tipped to replace as the Proteas’ number one spinner.

In his debut season for the Titans, Tahir took 31 first-class wickets at 23.8 but in four matches this year he has managed just 13 wickets at 35.5 apiece.

Pybus said: “When Imran first arrived he was bowling with real fizz.

“You could hear the ball spin and see it loop and dip. A lot of that has gone now and by his own admission he hasn’t had a great first-class season.

“But I’m looking forward to him finding a bit of form during the second half of our summer.

“After returning to us a couple of months ago he had a lot of adjustments to make in a short space of time.

“He’s been bowling a lot more than he’s been used to after Hampshire came on the scene, he’s moved house and there’s been a lot of speculation about him qualifying for South Africa.

“That has maybe softened his focus but all good sportsmen have to deal with distractions.

“I’ve had a couple of chats with him about how he needs to get back to performing well at domestic level before people start saying he will be playing for South Africa next year.

“He knows that, he’s very proud and is not happy with how he’s performed recently. But I’m confident he’ll be back to his best soon.”

Tahir has struggled since taking 5-103 in his first first-class match of the 2008-09 campaign and in his most recent outing, his only limited-overs game of the season, he finished wicketless after five overs that cost 49 runs.

But the Champions League in India will provide him with the chance to shine on the big stage.

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