Tabraiz Shamsi Joins Back South African Squad Ahead of Colombo Test

The South African left-arm spinner, Tabraiz Shamsi has returned to the Island nation on Wednesday (July 18) to join the South African team ahead of the second Test. The decider will kick off from Friday (July 20) in Colombo.

As per South African management, Shamsi earlier flew to home after citing personal reasons. However, he will be now available for an all-important game against Sri Lanka.

Confirmation by Keshav Maharaj:

The partner of Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj confirmed that Tabraiz Shamsi will be joining the team before the second Test. He further said that Shamsi has been always part of our squad.

“Shamsi’s always been a part of the squad,” Maharaj said on Wednesday (July 18).

“Something happened in his family and it was unforeseen, but he’s back and he’s ready to go,” he added.

The debut of Shaun von Berg:

It was learnt from the initial development that uncapped leg-spinner of South Africa, Shaun von Berg will feature in the Test match. There were high chances due to the absence of Shamsi considering the Sri Lankan conditions.

However, as Shamsi joined the team there are slim chances of von Berg’s debut now.

In June 2018, von Berg was named in the squad of Titans for the 2018-19 season. Following this development, he gets a maiden Test call ahead of the Lankan series.

It is worthy to mention that the Proteas cricket management is in search of a partner for ace leg-spinner Imran Tahir. As the 2019 World Cup is around the corner, South Africa will be hoping to prepare another spinner other than Tahir.

Statistics in the first match:

Tabraiz Shamsi got three wickets in the first innings of the match at Galle, whereas, his partner, Maharaj went wicketless.

In the second essay, Shamsi claimed a solitary wicket, but Maharaj ruled the roost to pick four wickets. Shamsi ended the match with four wickets which South Africa eventually lost by 278 runs.