South Africa spinner Tabraiz Shamsi defended his ‘shoe-call’ celebration during Proteas’ 5-wicket win over India in the IND vs SA 2nd T20I on Tuesday, December 12th. Shamsi, who was adjudged the Player of the Match for his economical spell, dismissed Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav and brought out his signature celebration. However, the Indian cricket fans were left fuming and called the celebration disrespectful.
On Wednesday, Shamsi took to social media to defend his action as ‘fun celebration’.
“It’s just a fun celebration which a lot of kids enjoy and means no disrespect towards the batter… I’ve mentioned that countless times before.” wrote Shamsi on X ( formerly Twitter).
Suryakumar played a crucial innings, scoring 56 runs in 36 balls, rescuing India after, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill were dismissed. He stitched a crucial 70-run partnership with Rinku Singh, before getting dismissed by the South African spinner.
The Indian captain played a mistimed lofted shot, ultimately handing a simple catch to Marco Jansen at long-off. Shamsi celebrated the crucial breakthrough with his trademark shoe-phone celebration. This distinctive act involves him removing his shoe and mimicking its use as a mobile phone to make a call.
Shamsi delivered an outstanding performance, registering economical figures of 18-1 in four overs. South Africa successfully chased down the revised target via the DLS method in a rain-marred game. They reached 152 runs in 15 overs with seven balls to spare.
