'Thankful for all the blessings' - Tabraiz Shamsi excited ahead of India T20Is

South Africa is scheduled to play a five-match T20I series against India, starting on 9 June. The Proteas side has announced a strong 16-member squad for the tour which includes left-arm spinner wrist Tabraiz Shamsi. Shamsi had been the most consistent T20I bowler for South Africa in recent years as he is currently the top-ranked bowler in this shortest format of the game.

After Imran Tahir’s departure from the side, he grabbed opportunities with both hands and he cemented his place in the playing XI as the leading spinner of the side. He has a great record against the Men in Blue as he has picked up four wickets in five T20I matches at an economy of 7.88. However, the spinner took his official Twitter account and shared his gratitude for all the blessings and opportunities he received so far in his career. He also shared his excitement for the upcoming series against India.

“Thankful for all the blessings and opportunities so far…. praying for many more down the road Exciting series against India loading #ThankfulGratefulBlessed #IncredibleIndia,” read the caption of the post.

Here is Tabraiz Shamsi’s tweet:

Thankful for all the blessings and opportunities so far…. praying for many more down the road

Exciting series against India loading 🇿🇦🇮🇳#ThankfulGratefulBlessed #IncredibleIndia pic.twitter.com/nzx5siNDbj

— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) June 3, 2022

After last year’s ICC T20 World Cup, this will be South Africa’s first T20I series. Shamsi had a good outing in that tournament as he picked up eight wickets in five matches at an economy of 6.36. Till now, Shamsi played 47 T20I matches where he grabbed 57 wickets at an economy of 6.74. 

His best figure of 4/25 came against Pakistan in 2021. In March 2021, Shamsi claimed top rank for bowlers in T20Is, and still, he is there with 784 points. South Africa has a 3-1 lead over India when it comes to International T20s in India only. Hence, Shamsi’s form would be crucial to continue such dominance.  

South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (C), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen

India squad: KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik