AUS v SA 2018: Every game important to make further inroads into career, feels Tabraiz Shamsi

Shamsi was awarded Man of the Match honour for his miserly spell in the standalone T20I.

The left-arm wristspinner is learming to deal with competition, better | Getty

Tabraiz Shamsi has expressed that each and every match he gets to play for the country is extremely important for the progress that the left-arm wrist spinner needs to make in his game and to carve out further "inroads" into his career across all formats for South Africa.

The 28-year-old, who has just played 11 ODIs and 9 T20Is, hasn't been a regular feature in either white or red ball format of the game. Shamsi faces stiff competition from one of the best-limited overs spinners in world cricket -  Imran Tahir, and only gets to play when he is rested or two tweakers are required on the night.

In Tests, classical left-arm Keshav Maharaj has cemented the place in the Test squad with some outstanding performances all over the world and is now South Africa's first-choice spin bowling option with the red ball.

Amidst all of this, Shamsi goes about enjoying his game and tries to live only in the present and work hard over his game.

On Saturday, November 17, he bowled a miserly two over spell in the standalone T20I, which actually became a T10 game because of rain, and returning with match figures of 1 for 12 helped South Africa defend their first innings total of 108/6 by 21 runs. Before, he was awarded man of the match honor at Gold Coast's maiden International game.

"Every game you play for your country is important," Shamsi said afterward, "It is important for someone to make inroads in their careers or find form if you're out of form."

As has been the case with his career so far, that remains his only contribution during the short limited-overs trip for Faf du Plessis led side, but Shamsi has learned to deal with it better.

"I was joking around with the guys. I'm happy to get at least two overs on this tour. (Being on the sidelines) gave me an opportunity to work on certain things," he amusingly said, having not played a game in the ODI series.

Shamsi also reaffirmed that this being a standalone game didn't perturb how determined the side was for the task and said, "Of course, one-off T20 is not ideal but against Australia, our guys were all pumped up, It's always nice to come to Australia. There was a nice big crowd here, (their) first game. It would have been a pity had we not got a game here."

"This T20 became a T10. It was about entertaining the people who take the time out to come and watch us play," he continued, "It was a nice all-around effort. The batsmen went out there and did the job. The bowlers too did well."

"Australia is a strong team. We never ever take Australia lightly. We just focus on our game plans and what we need to work on. We're happy that we won both the series. That was our objective coming here and we can be pleased that we've achieved something," and signed off.

After clinching the ODI series, 2-1, the Proteas finished off the tour with a fantastic win in the only T20I.

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 18 Nov, 2018

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