Tabraiz Shamsi (born 18 February 1990) is a South African cricketer. He has played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for teams such as

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

, Gauteng Under-19s,

KwaZulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locat ...

, KwaZulu-Natal Inland,

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

, and

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

. His batting style is right-handed and he is known for his

left-arm unorthodox spin Left-arm unorthodox spin, also known as slow left-arm wrist-spin, is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket. Left-arm unorthodox spin bowlers use wrist spin to spin the ball, and make it deviate, or 'turn' from left to right after pitchin ...

bowling.

Early life

Growing up, Shamsi initially played as a frontline

seam bowler Seam bowling is a bowling technique in cricket whereby the ball is deliberately bowled on to its seam, to cause a random deviation when the ball bounces. Practitioners are known as ''seam bowlers'' or seamers. Seam bowling is generally classed ...

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

competitions when he was in high school. However, his coaches told him that he was not quite quick enough to be a seam bowler when he underwent trials for the under-19 team. His coaches suggested he become a

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered slowly but with the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. The bowler is referred to as a spinner. Purpose The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ...

as he also reportedly bowled a lot of cutters.

Domestic and T20 career

Shamsi was the leading wicket-taker for the

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots are a Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricket franchise based in Saint Kitts and Nevis, and participated in the competition for the first time in 2015. The team will play its home games at Warner Park, Basseterre, loc ...

in the

Caribbean Premier League The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in ...

T20 in 2015. He was included in the

Easterns cricket team Easterns (formerly Eastern Transvaal) has played first-class cricket in South Africa since October 1991, and List A cricket since October 1989. For the purposes of the SuperSport Series, Easterns has merged with Northerns (formerly Northern Tra ...

squad for the

2015 Africa T20 Cup The 2015 Africa T20 Cup was a Twenty20 cricket tournament held in South Africa from 4 September to 4 October 2015, as a curtain-raiser to the 2015–16 South African domestic season. Organized by Cricket South Africa, it featured thirteen South Af ...

. In April 2016, Shamsi was signed by

Royal Challengers Bangalore Royal Challengers Bangalore (often abbreviated as RCB) are a franchise cricket team based in Bangalore, Karnataka, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was founded in 2008 by United Spirits and named after the company's liquor b ...

as a replacement player for the injured

Samuel Badree Samuel Badree (born 8 March 1981) is a former Trinidadian cricketer and cricket coach who played international cricket for the West Indies. He is a right-arm leg-spin bowler. Badree made his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago in 2002, b ...

during the 2016 IPL and made his debut against

Rising Pune Supergiants Rising Pune Supergiant (often abbreviated as RPS) was a franchise cricket team based in Pune, Maharashtra, that played in the Indian Premier League in 2016 and as a finalist in 2017. It was the second team representing Pune after Pune Warriors ...

Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium is a cricket stadium situated in the city of Pune, India besides the Pune Mumbai Expressway nestled between the hills of the Western Ghats. It is the home venue for the Maharashtra cricket team and is ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

where he took 1/36 in 4 overs as

won by 13 runs. In August 2017, Shamsi was named in Stellenbosch Monarchs' squad for the first season of the

T20 Global League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

. However, in October 2017,

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

initially postponed the tournament until November 2018, with it being cancelled soon after. Shamsi was the leading wicket-taker in the 2017–18 Ram Slam T20 Challenge, finishing the tournament with 16 wickets from 11 matches. He was also the leading wicket-taker in the

2017–18 Momentum One Day Cup The 2017–18 Momentum One Day Cup was a domestic one-day cricket championship that was held in South Africa. It was the 37th time that the championship was contested. The competition started on 20 December 2017 and concluded with the final on ...

, with 26 wickets in 9 matches. In June 2018, Shamsi was named in the squad for the

team for the 2018–19 season. In October 2018, he was named in

Paarl Rocks Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...

' squad for the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

of the

Mzansi Super League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

T20 tournament. He was the joint-leading wicket-taker for the team in the tournament, with ten dismissals in nine matches. In July 2019, Shamsi was selected to play for the Edinburgh Rocks in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled. He was signed by

Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Hampshire. Hampshire teams formed by earlier organisations, principal ...

for the final four group stage matches as an injury replacement to Mason Crane and

Brad Taylor Bradley Jacob Taylor (born 14 March 1997) is an English cricketer. Taylor is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm off break. He was born at Winchester, Hampshire. Educated at Eggar's School, Alton Hampshire where he played on the school ...

during the 2019 Vitality Blast. In September 2019, Shamsi was named in the squad for the

team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In July 2020, he was named in the

Jamaica Tallawahs The franchise Jamaica Tallawahs is the representative team of Jamaica in the Caribbean Premier League of cricket. It was one of the six teams created in 2013 for the inaugural season of the tournament. The Jamaica Tallawahs play their home gam ...

squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League. However, Shamsi was one of five South African cricketers to miss the tournament, after failing to confirm travel arrangements in due time. In November 2020, in the second round of the 2020–21 CSA 4-Day Franchise Series, Shamsi took eight wickets for 32 runs in the second innings against

Warriors A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have be ...

, to record the best bowling figures for Titans in a first-class match. In April 2021, Shamsi was named in Northerns' squad, ahead of the 2021–22 cricket season in South Africa. On 25 August 2021, Shamsi was included in the

Rajasthan Royals Rajasthan Royals (often abbreviated as RR) are a franchise cricket team based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight IPL franchises, the team is based at the Sawai Ma ...

squad for the second phase of the 2021 IPL in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

as a replacement player for

Andrew Tye Andrew James Tye (born 12 December 1986) is an Australian cricketer who plays One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for the Australian national cricket team. At the domestic level he plays for Western Australia and P ...

. In November 2021, he was selected to play for the

Galle Gladiators Galle Gladiators are a Sri Lankan franchise professional Twenty20 cricket team that competes in the Lanka Premier League, Sri Lanka and representing the city of Galle, Southern Province. Nadeem Omar, who owns the Quetta Gladiators in Paki ...

following the players' draft for the 2021 Lanka Premier League.

International career

In May 2016, Shamsi was named in South Africa's squad for the 2016 West Indies Tri-Series which started the following month. He made his

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) debut during the tournament on 7 June 2016 against Australia. Shamsi to Starc 2016

Shamsi made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut for South Africa against Australia on 24 November 2016.

Nathan Lyon Nathan Michael Lyon (born 20 November 1987) is an Australian international cricketer. He made his Test debut in 2011 and plays domestic cricket for New South Wales. Lyon is an off spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batsman. Considered ...

became his first test wicket, which he captured in his debut Test. Shamsi made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) debut for South Africa against England on 21 June 2017. In April 2019, Shamzi was named in 15 man South Africa's squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...

. Following the retirement of veteran legspinner

Imran Tahir Mohammad Imran Tahir ( pa, ; born 27 March 1979) is a South African former international cricketer. A spin bowler who predominantly bowls googlies and a right-handed batsman, Tahir played for South Africa in all three forms of cricket, but ...

from ODI cricket in 2019, Shamsi has emerged as the main first choice spinner for South Africa in limited overs cricket. In March 2021, Shamsi topped the ICC T20I rankings for bowlers for the first time in his career following his impressive performance in the 3 match T20I series against Pakistan in Pakistan picking up 6 wickets. In September 2021, in the second match against Sri Lanka, Shamsi took his first

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Takin ...

in ODIs. Later the same month, Shamsi was named in South Africa's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventua ...

. On 31 July 2022, in the final match of South Africa's three-match T20I series against England at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, Shamsi took figures of 5/24 in his four overs, making him the sixth player to take a five-wicket haul for South Africa in T20Is. His fourth wicket was his 65th in the format, overtaking

Dale Steyn Dale Willem Steyn (; born 27 June 1983) is a South African former professional cricketer who played for the South African Cricket Team. He is often regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and the best Test bowler of his generat ...

as the highest wicket-taker ever for South Africa in T20Is.

Awards

* Shamsi received the Men's T20I cricketer of the Year award at the 2021 CSA Awards. * Named in

ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year The ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year is an honour awarded each year by the International Cricket Council. It recognizes the top men's cricket players from around the world in the Twenty20 International format of the game. The team does not actually ...

for the year 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shamsi, Tabraiz 1990 births Living people South African cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers South African people of Indian descent South African Muslims Gauteng cricketers Dolphins cricketers Lions cricketers KwaZulu-Natal cricketers KwaZulu-Natal Inland cricketers Easterns cricketers Titans cricketers Cricketers from Johannesburg St Kitts and Nevis Patriots cricketers Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketers Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Parktown Boys' High School Hampshire cricketers Oval Invincibles cricketers Trent Rockets cricketers