The left-arm spinner bagged 4 wickets in the T20I series opener against Ireland.
South Africa won the first of the three-match T20I series against Ireland by 33 runs to take a 1-0 lead in Dublin on Monday (19th July). The left-arm unorthodox spinner, Tabraiz Shamsi was man of the match for his figures of 4/27 as the Irish batsmen had now answer to his bowling.
Shamsi came to bowl in the 9th over of the innings and cleaned up the Ireland centurion in last ODI, Simi Singh on the fifth delivery of the over. The spinner bagged two more wickets in his third over of the innings, reducing the opponents to 74/8 in 12 overs.
In his last over, Shamsi got rid of Harry Tector, the highest scorer for the hosts in the match and registered his fourth wicket of the match. The Irish batters never seemed comfortable reading the spinners bowling, to which Shamsi said that he has added many variations in his stock to deceive the batsman in the coming matches.
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"I just try and keep it simple, pitch the ball in the same area, was just trying to bowl according to a plan and keep things tight for the team," Shamsi said in the post-match presentation ceremony after first T20I.
"I do have a few variations in the bank, I haven't exposed all my tricks, and want to surprise the batsmen later," the spinner added.
The Ireland wickets are expected to be more helping for the pace bowlers and Shamsi was delighted to be among wickets on such a track.
"Happy with the way it came out today. Fortunate to get a few wickets as well. When we came to Ireland, we thought we were more of a supportive role to the pacers. I always try to do the same preparation that I have always done, assessing the pitch and doing a supporting role to the pacers. But today the pitch was holding up a bit and helped the slower bowlers, in that sense, I was lucky to come into the game today," Shamsi concluded.
Tabraiz Shamsi is currently the No.1 ranked T20I bowler in the world as per the ICC rankings and has proved his place in the pace dominant South Africa squad. Surprisingly, the spinner has not been bought by any IPL franchise post 2018, but we can surely expect his fortunes to change in the Mega Auction of IPL 2022 if he keeps up his performance.