After US debacle, Tabraiz Shamsi turns things around in Antigua

South Africa frontloaded the West Indies with spinners in a crucial tie in Antigua on Sunday (June 23). Aiden Markram (1/28) got a wicket off his very first delivery, while other spinners, Keshav Maharaj (1/24)  and Tabraiz Shamsi (3/27) held up their end of the bargain and vindicated their skipper’s stand of putting the West Indies in. 

Before this game, the pacers accounted for 62% of the wickets here. However, with wear and tear playing its part, the pitch at North Sound has brought spinners more and more over the course of time.

Markram and South Africa read the pitch well and had no hesitation in bowling first. Shamsi, who went for 1/50 against the US, was brought in to play just his third game of the T20 World Cup in place of Ottneil Baartman. For the wrist-spinner, the question was whether he could put his horror show against the USA behind him and put up a decent show in a vital game of the tournament. 

He did just that.

What he did well against the West Indies was his line, especially against the left-handers. Harmeet Singh faced very little difficulty in putting Shamsi. He knew what Shamsi was looking to do – that was to draw him out of the crease, and with the ball turning, it could bamboozle him. However, Harmeet was smart enough not to charge down, and converted length deliveries into a short one by just hanging back. 

Today against the West Indies, he bowled a lot fuller overall, as compared to the game against the US, and the extra turn continued to take the ball wide of the left-handed batter, which was not the case against the US. 

Short and wide against the US, but against the West Indies, it was a little fuller and the extra zip on the pitch today certainly helped him.

While Maharaj has proved that he can be at his reliable best, Shamsi has not been on the same page in the three games he has got so far. He played his first game against Nepal, and proved to be the difference with four scalps, and was expected to have a stronghold on the US as well. But the co-hosts on that occasion, countered him successfully. 

Shamsi has been playing in this part of the world since his first spell in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in 2015, turning up for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. Since then, he has picked up 41 wickets in 30 innings in the tournament, getting wickets at an average of 18.2 and striking once every 16 deliveries. In fact, he is the most experienced player on his squad in the CPL. Hence, one felt he would blend in naturally. However, he had never played at North Sound before this tournament. 

While the Proteas have a settled line-up, the only bone of contention they have faced throughout the tournament was to pick between Shamsi and Baartman. While there was no way the chinaman bowler was going to get into the XI in the US leg, he has already played a significant role in the West Indies leg. 

Against Nepal and now against the West Indies, Shamsi has shown that having him in the XI was indeed the right call. Safe to say that the match against the USA was an off-day.

Despite winning all six games in the tournament so far, South Africa have often been criticised for not being clinical enough. It is believed that it would eventually catch up with them at some point. They will hope that it does not happen in the semi-final…again.

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