Tabraiz Shamsi, world’s best left-arm wrist spinner
Tabraiz Shamsi has grown in confidence and has become one of the best wrist spinners in the world.
Top spinner
When it comes to left arm wrist spinners, an ilk of which there are not many, Tabraiz Shamsi is right up there. He did a fabulous job for South Africa in the 2021 T20 World Cup, picking up eight wickets at an economy rate of just 6.36.
South Africa are beginning to put their act together as they have been on a winning run of late. A part of the credit for that goes to their pace bowling duo of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada who have been right on the money.
Up on the spin quotient
At the same time, the likes of George Linde, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi have played a big part in South Africa’s ascent as well.
“We’re on a run of consecutive series so I don’t think this team is rubbish. I think we are quite good,” Shamsi said. “People speak about the great teams of the past. This team is on par with them. We might not have as many household names because we haven’t played that much international cricket. It doesn’t mean the players are not that good, just because they are not well known. The biggest change that came in my game is when I realised getting hit for six is part and parcel of my job. There’s no embarrassment. If a guy hits me for a six, he hits me for a six, but I am coming back for him.”
“We are bowling so many overs of spin because we have that many quality spinners. That’s been very nice. Maybe in the past, when we got to spinning wickets, we had a reluctance in picking spinners so that’s been a refreshing change. We are picking teams according to the conditions and we have the players to back it up. We have three quality spinners in the side, plus Aiden, and it means the captain can utilise me in different ways.”
Coming of age
His performances have been going through the roof in 2021 so much so that he averages just 13.36 in the year with as many as 36 wickets from the 84 overs that he has bowled, including the best of 4/25.
Shamsi has an economy rate of 5.73 in 2021 which is sensational in T20 cricket and gives away just 14 runs to pick up every wicket.