“These are the kind of moments you dream of”: Proteas bowler Tabraiz Shamsi

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India]: After South Africa clinched a 1-wicket victory against Pakistan in the 26th match of the ODI World Cup 2023 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday, Proteas cricketer Tabraiz Shamsi said that these are the kind of moments one dreams of.

While speaking at the post-match presentation, Shamsi gave all the credit to his teammates for doing their job.

“Really happy. I knew I had to do a job there, but the guys before me set it up. Credit goes to those guys too. I’ve played enough cricket to know sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it doesn’t. I didn’t expect to be here with my pads on doing this interview.

(On the last over) If I tried to play a big shot and if it didn’t come off, the boys wouldn’t welcome me back to the changing room.

So there was no doubt in my mind that I had to just defend and get Kesh on strike. These are the kind of moments you dream of, to be in the middle at the end and win your team a game. Kesh was unbelievable out there,” Tabraiz Shamsi said.

On the other hand, Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma said that it was a nail-biting finish against Pakistan.

Bavuma praised Shamsi and said that he played an ecstatic inning with both ball and bat.

“It is chaos at the moment. The guys are enjoying the moment. The guys are picking up Shamsi. Chaos at the moment. Nail-biting finish, if you are a South African fan, you will be happy. Pressure with us chasing, we haven’t done well to rectify that.

It will be easier to have those conversations, especially after the win. You need to have the guys in the best situations and truly speak out as to what they were thinking. Hard to say now but those conversations will happen.

It is something we have spoken about and something that has been thrown about. We have a blueprint when we bat first, we can’t say with conviction we have that when we are chasing.

We want to be a lot more clinical with the bat. That’s nice to hear. KG (Rabada) is good, it was more precautionary, he is experiencing lower back issues and a couple of days rest before New Zealand and he will be in contention.

Ecstatic for Shamsi, started with the ball, came in when conditions were helpful and then with the bat. We have seen Shamsi gloating on social media about his batting.

It won’t stop for the next two weeks but it’s nice for a senior guy like Shamsi to come out with the bat like that,” Temba Bavuma said.

Coming to the match, Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bat first. In the first inning, the ‘Men in Green’ openers failed to make a mark in the game.

However, Babar Azam played a 50-run knock from 65 balls to help his side take in a better position game.

Saud Shakeel also scored 52 runs in 52 balls. Meanwhile, Shadab Khan too played a stunning knock of 43 runs from 36 balls.

Tabraiz Shamsi led the Proteas’ bowling attack and scalped four wickets in his 10-over spell. Marco Jansen also bagged three wickets against Pakistan.

Babar and Saud helped the ‘Men in Green’ register 270 runs in the first inning.

In the run-chase inning, Aiden Markram played a stunning 91-run knock to keep his side in a better position. However, Tabraiz Shamsi ended the game in style by smashing four at the end.

Shaheen Afridi led the Pakistani bowling attack after he took three wickets in his 10-over spell. But it was not enough to defend the target.

In the end, the Proteas registered a 1-wicket win on Friday.

Shamsi was named the Player of the Match after his four-wicket haul in the first inning.