"Stop the hate and leave Quinton De Kock alone" - Tabraiz Shamsi defends wicketkeeper
South African spinner Tabraiz Shamsi has defended wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock in the 'fake fielding' run-out saga that saw Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman miss out on a double-ton on Sunday.
Posting on his official Twitter account, Tabraiz Shamsi urged fans to 'stop the hate' against Quinton de Kock.
Tabraiz Shamsi claimed that, against the common view among Pakistani fans, Quinton de Kock wasn't trying to fool the batsman about the direction of Aiden Markram's throw.
Instead, Quinton de Kock was asking a fielder to back up the stumps at the non-striker's end to prevent an overthrow.
Tabraiz Shamsi further said it was the batsman's fault that his attention wavered towards the opposite end before reaching his crease.
"Just to clarify, QDK [Quinton de Kock] was NOT speaking to or pointing at the batsman, he was asking a fielder to back up at the nonstriker's end. Not Quinny's fault the batman turned around to see instead of completing the run safely which he should have done. Stop the hate and leave QDK alone," said Tabraiz Shamsi.
The moment of contention came in the final over of the second ODI between South Africa and Pakistan. Fakhar Zaman, batting superbly on 192, pushed the first ball to long-off in search of a couple of runs.
Just before he completed the second run, wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock pointed his finger towards the non-striker's end.
Zaman saw this and looked back, only to fall short of his crease when Markram's throw hit directly at his stumps at the striker's end.
The incident prompted a maelstrom of criticism against Quinton de Kock, with fans claiming that he has gone against the spirit of cricket.
However, after the game Zaman took the blame on himself, claiming misjudgment. However, in what seems to have fanned the fire, South African skipper Temba Bavuma not only defended his wicketkeeper but also called his work 'quite clever'.
"Let's not take the attention away from a great innings" - Tabraiz Shamsi
Minutes after his first tweet, Tabraiz Shamsi put up another statement, this time extolling fans not to take away their attention from a 'great' knock by the Pakistani opener. The left-arm wrist-spinner said in this regard:
"So it's not funny that the batsman stopped running instead of completing the run? Let's not take the attention away from a great innings that he [Fakhar Zaman] played and give him credit for that The batman's job in that instance was to complete the run that's all... As simple as that :)"
Nevertheless, the run-out was an anti-climactic end to one of the best ODI innings from a Pakistani opener.
Fakhar Zaman (193) waged a lone battle as every other batsman from his team failed to even cross 35. South Africa won the game by 17 runs to level the three-match series 1-1. Centurion will host the decider on April 7.