Veteran spinner Tabraiz Shamsi suggested that Aiden Markram should bowl more often, claiming that the South African captain is much better than a part-time spinner as well. However, Markram got the wicket of the dangerous batter Nicholas Pooran on the very first ball of his spell and eventually finished with figures of 4-0-28-1 as well. Shamsi, on the other hand, won the Player of the Match award for his spell of 4-0-27-3.

“I actually always think that he under-bowls himself as whenever he’s the captain, he bowls less. He is a wonderful bowler and is a lot better than a part-timer. So, it was nice that as a captain he saw that there was something in it for him and he bowled those four overs,” Shamsi said in the post-match press conference. “It was nice to see what he did today. And when you see another spinner taking wickets, it gives you confidence as well.”

The veteran Markram has bowled 8 overs in the T20 World Cup 2024 and has picked up 2 wickets at an economy rate of 6.62 as well. Meanwhile, Shamsi, who replaced Ottneil Baartman in the playing XI, also added that South Africa put in team efforts and there is no pressure on a single player to step up in a crisis as well.

“That’s one thing nice about our unit. If you look at the squad, there is no individual you can pick and say, ‘hey, this guy is responsible for making this team win’. There is no pressure on any one individual. We just have a lot of match-winners within the squad and on each day, someone finds a way to pull the game towards the team,” Tabraiz Shamsi added.