Birthday special: Tabraiz Shamsi – South African spinner who is dominating T20Is
Tabraiz Shamsi is one of the best spinners in the modern-day game and also one of the finest to have represented South Africa at the highest level after having burst onto the scene in 2016. The promising bowler has been one of the Proteas’ limited-overs specialists for a while and has also bowled some impactful spells for them.
Lately, Shamsi has grabbed the top spot in the ICC T20I bowlers’ rankings. Apart from that, was also included in the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year 2021 and went on to bag the 2021 Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year at CSA Awards. Despite having built such a reputation for himself, the 31-year-old failed to impress any team at the recently-concluded IPL 2022 mega auction.
Tabraiz Shamsi: The potential of South African cricket’s spin superstar
Spin bowling was not the Johannesburg cricketer’s key area of interest initially as he focused on becoming a seamer during school cricket tournaments. However, Shamsi’s coaches made it clear that he was not quick enough for seam bowling when he underwent trials for the U19 team and was instead suggested to become a spinner as he used to bowl plenty of cutters.
The frontline spinner did not get to feature in the South African squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 but, some remarkable performances after that saw him being included in the 2019 World Cup squad. Nonetheless, he did not get to play all games as veteran leg-spinner Imran Tahir was their first-choice spinner. Even though the Chinaman bowler did get a couple of opportunities, he went wicketless in both games as the Proteas were knocked out in the league stages.
Shamsi was one of South Africa’s key performers in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, finishing with eight scalps from five matches but his team could not make it beyond the Super 12 stage. With the left-arm spinner now at the peak of his career, he would be expected to bamboozle the best in the business at the T20 World Cup 2022 down under later this year as the Proteas eye a maiden world title.
