Upon reports that his 'Masked Magician' celebration has been banned, The Cricketer reviews the South African spinner's most famous celebrations...
South Africa’s left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi has become known for his rather eccentric celebrations over the past few years.
Explaining the reason behind his celebrations, Shamsi has said: "The thing is, we play in such a highly competitive environment, always under pressure, always you need to perform, we tend to forget how to have fun on the field.
"We started playing the game because we loved it, as young kids we enjoyed it, when we move up to the professional environment, we forget to enjoy ourselves."
Noble, but sadly for Shamsi, he has reported that he has been banned from performing his ‘Masked Magician’ celebration during the Mzansi Super League in his home country.
This ‘Masked Magician’ celebration involves him pulling a snood over the bottom of his face while running off after taking a wicket, and is just one of the celebrations he has performed in recent years.
It is not clear whether this apparent request for him to stop has been a long time coming, or whether this was just simply a celebration too far. Whatever the case, it seems appropriate to investigate and review the celebrations he has pulled out.
Getting David Warner out is a joyous occasion for any man, woman, or child. The man now known for – in the words of team-mate Nathan Lyon - “headbutting the line” is something of a fierce competitor, not to mention a very good batsman.
Shamsi gets very high marks for not only having the brazen audacity to pull this celebration off when the opposition were 152-1 inside the 16th over, but also for performing it with Virat Kohli. Essentially he could have done anything and this would have got 10, the context is enough.
It really upset Warner too, who was on 92 when he was caught by AB De Villiers off Shamsi, and said: “In my team, if someone does that at 150 off 15 overs, I wouldn't accept that at all. I think it's a bit fancy to be honest."
It is good to know ‘Bull’ will accept, nay encourage, blatant cheating via the use of sandpaper, but not a bit of fanciness. Priorities. 10
(The clip in question is actually a previous time he did it, but gives you an idea of what it involves)
@RCBTweets victory got me feelin like... 💃💃💃#HappyDance #BusdriverCelebration pic.twitter.com/FGeJkZVQBp
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) May 19, 2016
He is not the first to use a snood for a celebration, and probably will not be the last. It is not a hugely original piece of pageantry in the grand scheme of things, but then again this it does not happen often in cricket.
We also dispute the name of the celebration. The Masked Magician was a television show that ran during the late 90s where a bloke in a mask would make things like an elephant disappear and then explain how he did it. It was great and the mask was actually quite hellish. Shamsi is not wearing a mask, he’s wearing a snood, and he’s not making elephants disappear, he’s getting a wicket.
Not particularly inventive, not particularly interesting, and frankly it’s lucky to get the score it does. 6
Hahahaha it's the #MaskedMagician Celebration @jpduminy21 😂😂@MSL_T20 #Celebrations #GoodTimes #JustForFun @ICC pic.twitter.com/pizqFEkxQM
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) December 6, 2018
Not impressed by this one at all. It’s a blatant bit of thievery is what it is. Dave Mohammed of the West Indies was the man to pioneer this celebration at the tasteful occasion that was the Stanford 20/20 back in 2006. To make matters worse Shamsi dared to perform it in the West Indies, the scene of Mohammed’s original genius
Shamsi using his shoe as a phone seems to be a bit of an excuse, there does not appear to be any good reason as to why he does it. However, with Mohammed there was real meaning. There was a point, as he explained in an interview with ESPNCricinfo: “When a guy is not reading spin, he's got to stay in his crease. Why are you coming down the wicket? Otherwise I'm going to take off my shoe and make a phone call: ‘Somebody call you down the wicket?’” -5 (lock him up for being a thief)
Enjoying myself n spreading happiness and smiles to others is all it's about#ShoePhoneCelebration 👟📞
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) December 6, 2018
Much love to you all ♥️#HappyHour pic.twitter.com/jp7cCGIqie
Credit where credit is due, this one is a very good celebration. For those who do not know, Sub-Zero is a character in the popular uber-gory fighting video game Mortal Kombat, and Shamsi is mimicking the character’s finishing move.
The actual move itself in the game involved Mr. Zero freezing his opponent – hence the name – and proceeding to rip their head off along with their spine, holding it aloft triumphantly.
Thankfully, Shamsi does not actually rip Carlos Brathwaite’s spine out, nor does he have the ability to freeze him. Had he, this review would have been a lot more damning. 8
Some good times from last year's @CPL final as we play in the quarter final tonight hoping to reach another final....
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) September 12, 2018
...its been an amazing 4years in the CPL, thank you you everyone who has supported me on this journey 🙏#CPL #BiggestPartyInSports #FunTimes pic.twitter.com/J4TenVGIjg
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