The ongoing ODI series between South Africa and Australia has yielded several positive aspects for the hosts. Despite losing key players such as AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla (first 2 ODI’s), the Proteas were led well by Faf du Plessis and have just been all over the Australians. With just the fifth ODI to go, a whitewash seems to be well on cards.
A major reason behind South Africa’s dominant performance has been chinaman spinner Tabraiz Shamsi. The left arm wrist spinner was fantastic in the fourth ODI as his wickets dented the Australian middle order. It came in as no surprise, when Shamsi was recently rewarded with a place in the test squad, for the tour of Australia in November.
Speaking to the press, Shamsi admitted, that he was eager to excel in tests after finding success in ODI’s. “Test cricket is one of my aspirations so if I get an opportunity, I will take it on board and see how it goes,” Shamsi said. Speaking about his side’s form, the spinner said, “Winning and losing is a habit. We are winning now. The guys are confident. The group has a brilliant work ethic but we haven’t ever felt like we’ve done the job.
Shamsi added that he was learning the tricks of the trade from the veteran spinner and fellow teammate Imran Tahir. “Having Immi around is a blessing in disguise for me. There’s a lot I can learn from him,” Shamsi said. “He is trying to pass on the things he has learned to me, so that I can get it quicker than he did, because to know those things can take a good few years. He is the best guy to have around me. We speak quite a lot, about game plans and field placings, and all kinds of things.”
The chinaman bowler also opened up on his exchange with Australian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade during the fourth ODI. “It does get me going,” Shamsi said. “There wasn’t any fight. We were just discussing where we were going to have dinner and we couldn’t come to an agreement. I enjoy that kind of stuff, it gets me going and it gets the team going.”