South Africa’s Tabriz Shamsi Lavishes Praise on Skipper Aiden Markram, Says ‘He Was Fantastic’
North Sound [Antigua]: Following his brilliant performance with the ball against West Indies in the Super 8 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, South Africa left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi heaped praise on Aiden Markram’s captaincy after the completion of the first innings of the clash on Monday.
Shamsi’s magnificent bowling performance of 3/27 restricted West Indies to 135/8 in 20 overs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Monday.
Talking about Markram’s leadership so far in the ongoing marquee event, the South African side has been unbeaten with six wins out of their six matches so far. If he wins the fixture against the hosts then it would be seven out of seven for the 29-year-old.
“Really nice to be out in the park when there’s a full crowd in. Really nice to be able to contribute today. He was fantastic (Markram’s captaincy). That’s the beauty of our bowling attack. There’s no set pattern. The way he marshalled the guys was brilliant. It’s a pretty decent surface, to be honest. There’s a little bit of turn but nothing excessive. The ball is coming onto the bat nicely and I suppose in the second innings hopefully there’s a bit of dew. I haven’t heard anything yet but hopefully, we don’t need him (Jansen fit to bat?). Pleased with the total but it’s cricket, so we got to make the runs,” Shamsi said in the mid-innings interview.
Recapping the first innings of the match, Proteas skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and opted to bowl first in an all-important Super 8 clash. The winner of this game will qualify for the semifinals of the ongoing marquee event.
West Indies finished their innings at 135/8 in 20 overs. The highest scorer for the Caribbean was Roston Chase who scored 52 runs off 42 balls.
The pick of the bowlers for the Aiden Markram-led side was Shamsi, who snapped three wickets in his spell of four overs where he conceded 27 runs. One wicket each was bagged by Marco Jansen, Markram, Keshav Maharaj, and Rabada in their respective spells.
South Africa needs 136 runs in order to qualify for the next stage.