Bringing on Tabraiz Shamsi was a change of pace in more ways than one.
Oshane Thomas ran in fast, delivered the ball at high pace, and it pinged off the bat at a quicker speed, clearing the ropes. When he didn’t concede boundaries, Thomas landed the ball past the wide line, everything that could go wrong was going absolutely pear-shaped. Thomas’ 10-ball over cost the St Lucia Kings 22-runs.
Shamsi doesn’t run in, he approaches the bowling crease at half-pace and bowls left-arm wrist spin. He took the over after Thomas’ trainwreck and started with a dot ball, a peach of a delivery that pitched on middle-and-off, and turned away from the batter. It was one of two dot balls in an over where Shamsi conceded four singles.
The pendulum swung the other way in the next over. Wiese opted to employ his death-bowling medium pace. Kyle Mayers smashed two sixes and a four as he plundered 17 runs in the over. Shamsi pushed back against the Patriots with a wicket in the 17th over for only five runs.
The spinner finished his four overs with two wickets for 17 runs and collected the Player of the Match award on his way to the dressing room. He couldn’t have celebrated his 300th T20 match any better.
“I play my best cricket whenever I’m relaxed and playing to entertain. I’m back to enjoying playing cricket, having fun, and celebrating while playing,” Shamsi, whose shoe celebration had vanished in recent months but reappeared at this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League, shared.
Kyle Mayers, 2 (3). Caught Cottrell. Bowled Shamsi. June 24, 2015. Gros Islet. The delivery that sent Mayers back to the dressing room was Shamsi’s seventh in the Caribbean Premier League. This was the beginning of his T20 career.
Back home, Shamsi hadn’t been considered a white ball bowler. The Dolphins, with whom he had spent four seasons, considered him to be a red ball spinner. He featured in just nine T20 matches during his time with them, and it wasn’t for the Dolphins, but rather, KZN Inland, the semi-pro side that fed into the Dolphins.
Shamsi, a Gauteng boy through and through, left the province in 2010, in search of more time on the field than the bench. The Lions had Gulam Bodi, Jean Symes, and Andrea Agathangelou who could turn his arm. They also had their eye on Paul Harris, who arrived in time for the 2010-11 season.
There was no way a young Shamsi was going to spin his way to the top of the pack, so he headed to KwaZulu-Natal, where he flourished under Grant Morgan’s coaching. Shamsi became Morgan’s banker. He turned matches around when Inland was in trouble, won them contests, and helped bring in titles.
"I haven't seen many committed, dedicated and hard-working players like Tabraiz Shamsi. He had that inner belief that he could do it and could succeed. He was also committed to the team doing well, and that is very important," Morgan said.
Morgan was the reason why Shamsi got matches during his time at the Lions. That ended when the coach moved away. Their reunion at Inland was what Shamsi needed for him to take the next step in his career.
“Grant Morgan felt that my talent was being wasted playing semi-pro cricket, so he got on the phone with Rob Walter, who was at the Titans,” Shamsi recalled.
In a nutshell, Morgan told Walter that he had a talented player who was winning him games and titles, but felt he was too good for the B side. “He said, ‘I can keep him here and keep winning the games, but that's not what I want. All he needs is an opportunity because he's ready to play franchise cricket. So if you have a place for him, I fully recommend him,’” Shamsi reflected.
Walter picked Shamsi for five T20 matches for the Titans in his first season and spent most of his time with the Easterns. Shamsi’s turning point came in December 2014. He was selected for a ‘rag tag’ Invitational side that was to give the touring West Indies team match practice. The outfit was made of players who weren’t playing for their franchises that week.
Dominic Hendricks, the Invitational side’s captain, asked Shamsi to bowl 26.1 overs, the most by any bowler in the match. The heavy usage gave Marlon Samuels ample time to appreciate the spinner’s skill. The West Indies star paid attention to the spinner after Shamsi trapped him lbw early in his innings. Fortunately, the umpire didn’t think he was out.
"I had him out lbw, when he was on 10 but the umpire didn't give him out. He ended up making a double-hundred. It's funny how things work, if he had been given out on 10 he would not have faced me that much and he wouldn't have seen what I can do," Shamsi mused.
After the match, Shamsi and Samuels exchanged numbers, with the West Indies player promising the spinner that he was taking him to the CPL. He felt that his team could do with a player of Shamsi’s calibre. Six months later, Samuels made an unbeaten half-century and Shamsi took his first CPL wicket for the ST Kitts and Nevis Patriots, against the St Lucia Zouks.
Kyle Mayers, 27 (25). Caught David Wiese. Bowled Tabraiz Shamsi. 28 August, 2025. Gros Islet. The Shamsi that Mayers faced in 2025 was not the same as the one he faced 10 years ago. This is an older and wiser version.
“The key for me was sticking to my game plan and not getting greedy for wickets. My focus was on making sure that I was hitting the lengths that I wanted to hit and back my variations,” Shamsi shared after the match.
Shamsi had kept things so tight that Mayers had failed to score off six of the 11 balls Shamsi sent to him. He milked singles from the other five. This was the second time Shamsi dismissed Mayers in 10 years, it was off the 24th delivery Mayers faced from Shamsi in the CPL. The West Indies batter was Shamsi’s 49th victim in the tournament, and 334th in 300 T20 appearances.
Mayers isn’t the only batter who struggles against the tweaker in the CPL. Shamsi has 55 wickets at an economy of seven in 43 innings. He averages 19 and strikes every 16 balls. This season, Shamsi has a dot ball percentage of 55, it is the third season, out of seven, where batters haven’t scored off more than half of the balls he delivers.
“The CPL does that for me. Everyone here just loves entertaining cricket and celebrations and enjoy the game for what it is... for giving us happiness. That atmosphere brings out the best in me. I am feeling rejuvenated,” Shamsi shared.
His first CPL season acted as a springboard to the many things. He finished as the leading wicket-taker for the Patriots, got picked in the IPL, became a regular for the Titans, and found a way into the South Africa national team. Back then, Shamsi was desperate to be recognised as a good spinner. That is no longer the case.
“I don’t count myself as part of the spinners conversation, I put myself in the pot as a bowler. I know when the team is in need of someone who can make things happen, they can turn to me. I’m a dependable bowler and most definitely know what I bring to a team mentality wise and in terms of presence,” he said.
Nothing speaks to that more than the fact that the Kings have given him a different role this season. They have been asking him to bowl the harder overs and also towards the death to take pressure off the seamers, a role he is enjoying. His nine wickets at an average of 16, accompanied by a strike of 14 and an economy just over six, tell a story of a bowler at the peak of his powers.