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South Africa left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi described the winning boundary hit by Keshav Maharaj as the “most precious four runs” of his life after the pair helped the Proteas pull off a thrilling one-wicket victory over Pakistan in the ICC World Cup match in Chennai on Friday.
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Maharaj and Shamsi managed to stay calm in a chase of a challenging 271-run target that had become a nerve-wracking affair towards the end, with the former pulling left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz for a boundary to help the Proteas win by one wicket with 16 deliveries to spare.
Shamsi had earlier starred with the ball in hand, helping South Africa bowl Pakistan out for 270 with a haul of 4/60 in what is only his second appearace in the ongoing mega event so far.
“Yeah, the most precious four runs that he was ever scored in life. It’s probably most important four runs he has scored it this whole year. The key was really holding your nerves in the end because it’s so tempting when you see a spinner to play a big shot and try and finish it early… boys wouldn’t welcome me back in the change room.
“So there was never a doubt in my head that I was going to play a big shot and you know in a funny way it was actually quite nice. You know, these are the type of moments that you train for the big stage,” Player of the Match Shamsi said after the match.
South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma, who returned to action after missing the last two matches due to illness, too heaped praise on Shamsi for contributing both with bat and ball.
“Ecstatic for Shamsi, He came in favourable conditions and exploited it and then with the bat I think you’ve seen Shamsi on social media gloating about his batting, we needed that today and fortunately for us he came through,” Bavuma, who scored a run-a-ball 28 after returning to the top of the order, said after the match.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam, meanwhile, had to endure another disappointing post-match interview after his team suffered a fourth loss in a row — which has put them on the verge of an exit. Reflecting on Pakistan’s performance, which had easily been their most spirited in the four consecutive defeats, Babar felt they were “10 to 15 runs short”.
“Very disappointing, we fought back well but we were 10-15 runs short. I think the way fast bowlers bowled, they did well but unfortunately the result was not in our side,” Babar said after the game.
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