Plagued by injuries, South Africa did not get the start it wanted in World Cup 2019. After losing the first two games — against England and Bangladesh — the Proteas think tank decided to bring in left-arm chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi for the clash against India in Southampton on Wednesday.
Injuries to Dale Steyn and Lungi Ngidi dented the Proteas’ pace plans. But spin could be the answer to South Africa’s bowling problems. On top of that, a chinaman carries that X-factor of creating unplayable angles along with googlies.
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Shamsi’s inclusion is also a sort of a counter to Kuldeep Yadav, India’s first notable chinaman bowler who picked up 88 wickets in only 45 ODIs.
Kuldeep has been successful in England in the bilateral series in 2018.
South Africa will be hoping for success through Shamsi as he has the same skill set that of Kuldeep.
Shamsi is Indian Premier League and Caribbean Premier League-trained; the threshold for national team selection these days. Last year, he was one of the players who travelled to India for a spin-bowling camp in Mumbai under the supervision of Ramesh Powar.
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“Plan A is gone. It's gone because the Plan A was those bowlers [now injured] playing together. We have to really look at what we can do to try to be effective; is it playing all-rounders together, do we play two spinners? Now it's reshuffling all our cards and see how best we can deal with it,” South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis had expressed concerns after the 21-run loss to Bangladesh.
With Imran Tahir in good form as well, Shamsi’s inclusion seems like a good Plan B.
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