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Tabraiz Shamsi (South Africa player) post-match Press Conference - 23rd June 2024
[Reporter:]
You seem to have been making a habit of close games this T20 World Cup. Can you describe the emotion and how you were feeling towards the end of that game?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Yeah look, obviously most of the games have been a lot closer than we would have personally liked, but the amazing thing is that this new Proteas team always seems to get over the line. We've been put under huge pressure basically in every single game that we've played and the boys have managed to find a way to win no matter what the situation is, no matter how close the game is. So that's really pleasing for us as a unit, and it's sort of like in a funny way we're looking forward to it.
[Reporter:]
As a fellow member of the spinners' union, Aiden Markram decided to sort of roll the dice a little bit and bowl himself in the second over and take that crucial wicket of Nicholas Puran. What was going through your mind when you kind of saw him take that responsibility and how good is it to have a captain like that take the responsibility on his shoulders and have everyone sort of jump on his back in that case?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Yeah, I actually always think he under bowls himself whenever he's captain he bowls less because he is a wonderful bowler. I think he's a lot better than a part-timer so it was nice as a captain he saw that there was something in it for him and he ran with it and he bowled all four overs. So that's the one thing that's nice about our unit, if you look at the squad, there isn't any individual that you can pick and say like, hey, this guy is responsible for making this team win. There's no pressure on any one individual. We just have a lot of match winners within the squad and on each day, someone finds a way to pull the game towards the team. So, I think that's what's making the guys play without any pressure because we all know we have the ability to win the games but there's no pressure on any individual to actually do it otherwise we're in trouble. So yeah, it was really nice to see Aiden doing what he did today. When you see another spinner taking wickets, it gives you confidence as well to know that when it's your turn, there'll be something in it for you.
[Reporter:]
Just to lead in on that, giving yourself a little bit more time a little bit later in the innings to kind of work your way into it how does it make it much easier for you?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Look it's a double-edged sword right - the previous game I bowled later in the innings and I went for 50 and there was certain critics coming out from the woodworks speaking about pressure and how I can't handle pressure and so to speak - I think in a quarterfinal match I hope that was enough pressure for me to respond to. But yeah, I think it doesn't really matter where I'm asked to bowl, whether it's early on in the innings or at the back end. There's a specific job that I've got to do. And we've all played enough cricket to understand that sometimes it will work, on other days it wouldn't, and somebody else will cover for you, and vice versa. That's the mentality that we have within the squad. Whoever's day it is needs to take extra load and cover up for someone that's maybe not having a good game and that's perfectly normal, that's cricket.
[Reporter:]
How were you approaching things tonight? Were there times that you were trying to tempt them, you were getting some lovely flight, and it seemed like you were dangling the carrot, basically. Was that a big part of your plan?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Yeah, look, fortunately I've been able to play CPL for the last five or six years. And one thing with the West Indian boys, you don't have to guess what their intent is going to be. So, it sort of helps you formulate a plan or expect what you're going to be coming up against and then it's just about trying to utilize the different variations you have and when to bowl it to which batter. So yeah, everything sort of goes into slow motion when you're out there in the middle you don't hear the crowd or anything - it's just about doing the job for the team in the moment. At times the captain would ask me to strike or at times he just asked me to bowl a tight over - so just about trying to do that as best as I could.
[Reporter:]
And how important in the context of it was Heinrich Klaasen that that one over when he was batting?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Yeah, key. As you can see the game got to the end but we know that's what Klaasen can do. He can turn the game on its head at any moment and in this specific game one big over like that could help us get over the line so as I alluded to earlier there's no pressure on anyone to do anything in this team. We know what each of us is capable of doing and each guy is able to win the game single-handedly - so I think that frees up all the guys in that moment Klassen sort of brought the game so much in our favour that even though we had a little bit of a slide towards the end - we had enough in the in the bank there.
[Reporter:]
And you just you mentioned critics is that it sounds like it's something you've paid attention to, has it stung a little bit - the criticism.
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
it's just a little bit ridiculous when it's ex-players - when they're on the field they did the same things now we're trying our best so what that's part of the game right we got to go out there and do our job. And as cricketers we know sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Whatever the guys speak about behind the scenes in our change room, that's all that matters. And look, you got to turn up and try your best the next day maybe I might go for 50 again in the next game maybe I might be man of the match again nobody knows.
[Reporter:]
You seem to have been making a habit of close games this T20 World Cup. Can you describe the emotion and how you were feeling towards the end of that game?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Yeah look, obviously most of the games have been a lot closer than we would have personally liked, but the amazing thing is that this new Proteas team always seems to get over the line. We've been put under huge pressure basically in every single game that we've played and the boys have managed to find a way to win no matter what the situation is, no matter how close the game is. So that's really pleasing for us as a unit, and it's sort of like in a funny way we're looking forward to it.
[Reporter:]
As a fellow member of the spinners' union, Aiden Markram decided to sort of roll the dice a little bit and bowl himself in the second over and take that crucial wicket of Nicholas Puran. What was going through your mind when you kind of saw him take that responsibility and how good is it to have a captain like that take the responsibility on his shoulders and have everyone sort of jump on his back in that case?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Yeah, I actually always think he under bowls himself whenever he's captain he bowls less because he is a wonderful bowler. I think he's a lot better than a part-timer so it was nice as a captain he saw that there was something in it for him and he ran with it and he bowled all four overs. So that's the one thing that's nice about our unit, if you look at the squad, there isn't any individual that you can pick and say like, hey, this guy is responsible for making this team win. There's no pressure on any one individual. We just have a lot of match winners within the squad and on each day, someone finds a way to pull the game towards the team. So, I think that's what's making the guys play without any pressure because we all know we have the ability to win the games but there's no pressure on any individual to actually do it otherwise we're in trouble. So yeah, it was really nice to see Aiden doing what he did today. When you see another spinner taking wickets, it gives you confidence as well to know that when it's your turn, there'll be something in it for you.
[Reporter:]
Just to lead in on that, giving yourself a little bit more time a little bit later in the innings to kind of work your way into it how does it make it much easier for you?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Look it's a double-edged sword right - the previous game I bowled later in the innings and I went for 50 and there was certain critics coming out from the woodworks speaking about pressure and how I can't handle pressure and so to speak - I think in a quarterfinal match I hope that was enough pressure for me to respond to. But yeah, I think it doesn't really matter where I'm asked to bowl, whether it's early on in the innings or at the back end. There's a specific job that I've got to do. And we've all played enough cricket to understand that sometimes it will work, on other days it wouldn't, and somebody else will cover for you, and vice versa. That's the mentality that we have within the squad. Whoever's day it is needs to take extra load and cover up for someone that's maybe not having a good game and that's perfectly normal, that's cricket.
[Reporter:]
How were you approaching things tonight? Were there times that you were trying to tempt them, you were getting some lovely flight, and it seemed like you were dangling the carrot, basically. Was that a big part of your plan?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Yeah, look, fortunately I've been able to play CPL for the last five or six years. And one thing with the West Indian boys, you don't have to guess what their intent is going to be. So, it sort of helps you formulate a plan or expect what you're going to be coming up against and then it's just about trying to utilize the different variations you have and when to bowl it to which batter. So yeah, everything sort of goes into slow motion when you're out there in the middle you don't hear the crowd or anything - it's just about doing the job for the team in the moment. At times the captain would ask me to strike or at times he just asked me to bowl a tight over - so just about trying to do that as best as I could.
[Reporter:]
And how important in the context of it was Heinrich Klaasen that that one over when he was batting?
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
Yeah, key. As you can see the game got to the end but we know that's what Klaasen can do. He can turn the game on its head at any moment and in this specific game one big over like that could help us get over the line so as I alluded to earlier there's no pressure on anyone to do anything in this team. We know what each of us is capable of doing and each guy is able to win the game single-handedly - so I think that frees up all the guys in that moment Klassen sort of brought the game so much in our favour that even though we had a little bit of a slide towards the end - we had enough in the in the bank there.
[Reporter:]
And you just you mentioned critics is that it sounds like it's something you've paid attention to, has it stung a little bit - the criticism.
[Tabraiz Shamsi:]
it's just a little bit ridiculous when it's ex-players - when they're on the field they did the same things now we're trying our best so what that's part of the game right we got to go out there and do our job. And as cricketers we know sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Whatever the guys speak about behind the scenes in our change room, that's all that matters. And look, you got to turn up and try your best the next day maybe I might go for 50 again in the next game maybe I might be man of the match again nobody knows.
