South Africa’s left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi feels that T20 is a batsmen’s game in which bowlers like him are there to “spoil the party” for sure. He had a great figure of 1/19 in three overs during the second T20I in Mohali and is now looking forward to levelling the series at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“I feel it puts all the more pressure on the batsman to go out there and do what people want to see. So as bowlers, we are just there to spoil the party and make sure that we execute our plans well,” Tabraiz Shamsi told PTI in an interview.
The third and final T20I match is scheduled to be played on Sunday.
“Chinnaswamy is a small stadium and I mean it’s a T20 series, so people obviously are coming there to see batsmen hit fours and sixes. They are not there to see you bowl a maiden over and that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
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The ground used to be his home ground as he used to play for RCB in IPL a couple of seasons back. His stint at RCB has helped him grow as a cricketer.
“Definitely, it helps when you are around speaking to world-class players like Virat, Gayle and Shane Watson. The world of cricket is shrinking in the sense that everyone is ready to share knowledge,” he said. “You will find senior South African fast bowlers imparting knowledge to Indian fast bowlers and vice-versa. Being familiar with surroundings while playing for RCB will certainly help.”
South Africa had Imran Tahir as their premier wrist-spinner for a long time and Tabraiz Shamsi looks at it as a challenge rather than a responsibility to fill the gaps.
“I don’t see this as an additional responsibility. When Immy (Tahir’s nickname) was there in the team, my job was to do what’s best for the team and obviously with him not being there, I am the only wrist spinner in the team. But I have not shied away from challenges and India is another one of those,” said the spinner. “Being a leg-spinner myself, I know guys tend to help each other out as it’s a small club and we know how tough our art is. I found spending a lot of time with Tahir but I have found all the leg-spinners in the other teams easy-going.”
He shared that he used to idolise Australia player Brad Hogg while growing up.
“Hogg, I used to watch his bowling a lot during my growing up years. He was the only left-arm wrist spinner playing the game then. But if you see knowledge is everywhere and you just have to be open-minded and to be able to pick things that works for you and leave things that don’t work for you,” he added.
