Tabraiz Shamsi

A left-arm wrist-spin bowler who has climbed the ladder South Africa to become their first choice spinner in the limited overs formats, Shamsi started at a time when spin was being taken more seriously in South Africa’s domestic circles. It's not just his variations which are impressive, but also the accuracy along with those variations, and he becomes threatening when batsmen go after him. A cheerful character, Shamsi is just as well known for his celebrations as he is for his bowling with the 'bus driver' and 'shoe call' celebrations being his most popular.

His big break came in franchise cricket, when Royal Challengers Bangalore drafted him in as replacement for the injured Samuel Badree in IPL 2016. Shamsi only featured in four matches all season and couldn't give a fair account of himself, partly due to some pretty harsh conditions for bowlers.

By 2017, he had made his debut in all three formats for South Africa. However, the presence of an established performer like Tahir in the team, who was also a wrist-spinner,meant that the opportunities for Shamsi were few and far between.

Shamsi first started playing in the domestic circuit in 2009 for Gauteng, before moving to Kwa-Zulu Natal where he struggled for success, and shifted base again to join the Titans.

The first few years didn't bring the impact which Shamsi must have desired. It was in 2013/14, when he finished as the third-highest wicket-taker with 47 wickets to his name, in the three-day Cup that he got noticed and claimed a more concrete position for the Titans.

In 2015, Shamsi earned a contract with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots - the Caribbean Premier League franchise, where he ended up as the leading wicket-taker, helping him secure a deal with an IPL franchise. In a rather rare art, especially in South Africa, Shamsi played for Paarl Rocks in the Mzansi Super League. In the inaugural edition of MSL, the wrist-spinner was the most economical bowler (6.30 RPO) in the competition.

Shamsi was named in the 2019 World Cup squad - his first appearance in the mega event. Thanks to Tahir's presence, he found it difficult to make it to the playing XI. Shamsi was picked for two round-robin encounters in the multi-nation tourney, but the tweaker not only remained wicketless but was also expensive. The retirement of Imran Tahir post the World Cup, however, meant that Shamsi was now seen as South Africa’s main spin weapon. His career started to pick-up a different trajectory as he started to get more exposure and experience.

In early 2021, Shamsi climbed up the charts and became the number one rated bowler in ICC’s T20I Rankings. He was picked in South Africa’s squads for both the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups and picked up 8 wickets from 5 games and 4 wickets from two games respectively. In July 2022, Shamsi picked up figures of 5/24 in a T20I against England and surpassed Dale Steyn’s 64 wickets to become South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in T20I cricket.

He was named in South Africa’s 15-member squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.