Aaron Phangiso

Aaron Mpho Phangiso is a slow left-arm orthodox bowler, who represents Highveld Lions in the South African domestic circuit. He made his international debut for South Africa in a T20I against New Zealand in East London on Dec 23, 2012. A month later, he also made his ODI debut against the same team at Potchefstroom.

He started playing first-class cricket from the age of 20 and represented Northerns for five seasons. He later on changed the team and started playing for the Lions on the insistence of his coach, Dave Nosworthy. Phangiso had a terrific season in 2009-10 in the Standard Bank Pro20, where he had the best economy rate.

He has only played a handful of ODIs and T20Is and is always considered as a replacement for Imran Tahir, who is the preferred first choice. However, he had a good Ram Slam T20 Challenge in 2014, which made the selectors pick him for the World T20 in Bangladesh, but he didn't play a single game as Tahir performed exceedingly well in all the matches.

Phangiso made it to the 15-man World Cup squad in 2015 but was the only player who did not get a game for South Africa. His appearances reduced over time as it collided with the resurgence of wrist-spinners in international cricket. Having always been a back-up for Tahir, Phangiso went one step further down with the raise of Tabraiz Shamsi.

By Kiran Nataraj and Akshay Maanay