Tabraiz Shasmi was the chief architect behind the epic victory for the Proteas. Riding on his sensational bowling, South Africa bundled out the hosts for a mere 103 after the Islanders opted to bat first.
Shamsi picked up a three-wicket haul for just 20 runs in his quota of 4 overs. The left-arm spinner dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva (4), Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka (10) and Chamika Karunaratne (8).
Apart from Shasmi, Aiden Markram also shined with the ball taking three scalps for 21 runs in 4 overs. Markram removed set batters Kusal Perera (30) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (20) before sending Charith Asalanka (14) back to the pavilion to complete his three wickets.
In reply, the touring party chased down the paltry target in 14.1 overs with nine wickets in hand. Opener Quinton de Kock smashed a brilliant half-century and remained unbeaten at 58 off 48 balls to take his side over the finish line.
“I am just one part of the unit, and I just do my job on the day. We have quite a few quality bowlers in our attack. These pitches take a lot more turn than the ones back home. We need to use it to our advantage, and you can see the quality in our bowling. Sri Lanka prepared spinning wickets, and we fought fire with fire. I put my heart and soul into the team. It’s just the emotions of my hard work coming out in my celebrations,” said Shamsi after the match.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Will tweet this umpteenth time.
Tabraiz Shamsi is having a dream year in T20Is. His bowling figures till date (2021) :
Wickets : 28
Average : 11.89
Strike Rate : 13.07
— Paridhi Srivastava 7?(@BeingKohlicious) September 12, 2021
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