“I mean people don’t shy away reminding me about it but that gives me more motivation to work harder and come back strongly every year. But I’m just really grateful for the opportunity, thanks to the CPL. I’m just trying to do my best and make sure we as a team try to win this year. I feel like we truly deserve it.”
Over the years, Tahir has represented almost 60 teams around the world, but in the CPL, he has remained loyal to Amazon Warriors. Having felt the love and support of the Amazon Warriors fans for eight seasons since 2019, Tahir now wants to give back to the people of Guyana.
“It’s just amazing to see the whole country involved and right behind the team,” Tahir said. “Anywhere you go, any street in Guyana people talk about cricket. When they see and pay a lot of respect, that’s the only reason I get motivated when I see the kids come up to me and anybody working on the road to guys in the office. That gives a lot of courage to do well for the country, so being a captain I can pass the clear message to my team-mates as well.
“Time to time, it can be tough. We’ve been on the road and it’s not easy being away from family and things like that. But at the end of the day, we’re here to do our job and we need to be as honest as we can with the Guyanese people and the brand we represent.”
“I want to be honest. I can say it [captaincy] was a surprise,” Tahir said. “But on the other side, not really. I like challenges. There was a couple of points I had to present to the owner, and we were just talking about it. He just asked me what do you think if you want to go ahead and be captain. I probably had a 30-second break in between and said: ‘Sir, I really like challenges and if you give me an opportunity, I will give my 200% commitment to the team’.
“That [captaincy] is the last thing I want to learn in cricket. It’s been tough. You need to be responsible about many things – not just cricket. It’s been a great journey for me, especially from a learning point of view. I hope I justify the role for the team – Guyana Amazon Warriors and the people of Guyana.”
