Imran Tahir: Wanted to see why I wasn't picked

Tahir believes in wearing his heart on his sleeve and much like his emotional celebrations, he has no qualms in admitting that he was hurt at being unsold at the player auction.

"If I say I was okay (at being unsold), I will be lying," the top-ranked T20I bowler told the Times of India. "I am human at the end of the day. I was sad when the auction happened, the last two years I have been performing. And it's not me saying that, the stats that are saying that, I left my family back and came here. I can't become more serious than that.

"So, if I left them, then I am here to do my job. It's not that I am here to prove something. I wanted to be here to challenge and see as to what was the reason for me not being picked. For me, life moves on.”

Pune signed him up as a replacement for Mitchell Marsh, and Tahir is the joint leading wicket-taker in 2017 IPL with Rashid Khan of Afghanistan with five wickets from two games.

And given his success on pitches that aren’t necessarily offering him any assistance, Tahir said that he’s used to such unfavourable conditions. "I have never had spinning tracks. So that really helps me (on non-turning tracks). So yeah, take a learning from there. It will be nice if it spins, that's what I have been waiting for a long time," he said.

"I sit with our computer guy Prasanna. He tells me about my feel and everything, he gives me plans, keeps working hard for me," the 35-year-old Tahir said.