South Africa's chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi is looking forward to playing in the second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Rajasthan Royals have signed him as Andrew Tye's replacement for the rest of the season and Shamsi is pretty excited to take the field in the cash-rich league. This is a comeback for him in the IPL.
He played only four matches in his previous stint with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) during the 2016 season. Moreover, Shamsi will be playing for the first time in the UAE where conditions will be helpful for the spinners.
"I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm not excited about (the IPL). I am very excited. Especially because I've never played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The IPL is a different thing. I have played in the past but I was a lot younger and I didn't get a lot of game time regularly. When you get regular game time, you can showcase what you can do. You can improve," Shamsi said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
With the T20 World Cup set to be played in the UAE itself, Shamsi feels it will be great to feature in the IPL from that perspective as well. It will only help him get accustomed to the conditions and the pitches ahead of the mega event.
"And from a Proteas' perspective, I'm really happy I got picked up in the IPL because I've never been there and played there. It will be nice if I can play on those pitches and get some inside information and gain some experience; just to be able to pick up some knowledge and information that might help us in the World Cup," Shamsi added.