Bowlers just there to spoil the party in a batsman’s format, Tabraiz Shamsi on T20
Tabraiz Shamsi has stated that he feels the game’s shortest format is one which is dominated by batsmen and hence they have an additional burden to keep the fans entertained with their stroke-making. He further talked about his stint at Royal Challengers Bangalore and succeeding Imran Tahir.
South African wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamis is of the thought that because the twenty-over format is made for the batsmen to hit the big shots and score big runs, they have bigger responsibility to perform since the onus is on them to entertain the crowd. The 29-year-old will be facing his next assignment at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday in the third T20 against the Men in Blue, after he came away with good figures of 1/19 off three overs in the previous match.
"I feel it puts all the more pressure on the batsman to go out there and do what people want to see. So as bowlers, we are just there to spoil the party and make sure that we execute our plans well. Chinnaswamy is a small stadium and I mean it's a T20 series, so people obviously are coming there to see batsmen hit fours and sixes. They are not there to see you bowl a maiden over and that's what it's all about," he was quoted saying by Times Now.
He has played multiple times at the ground previously, having represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise for a couple of years. There, he got the opportunity the opportunity to interact with some of the world’s best and learn more about the trade.
"Definitely, it helps when you are around speaking to world-class players like Virat, Gayle and Shane Watson. The world of cricket is shrinking in the sense that everyone is ready to share knowledge. You will find senior South African fast bowlers imparting knowledge to Indian fast bowlers and vice-versa. Being familiar with surroundings while playing for RCB will certainly help," feels Shamsi.
He is now expected to be a mainstay in the Proteas squad considering Imran Tahir has hung up his boots post the recently concluded World Cup. He has 17 ODI and 15 T20 caps under his belt apart from having played a couple of red-ball games for the country. However, he is not stressing himself much about filling the giant boots of the veteran spinner.
"I don't see this as an additional responsibility. When Immy (Tahir's nickname) was there in the team, my job was to do what's best for the team and obviously with him not being there, I am the only wrist spinner in the team. But I have not shied away from challenges and India is another one of those," the spinner concluded on the matter.
