Sri Lanka vs South Africa 2018: Tabraiz Shamsi returns for second Test

South Africa's left arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi will return to their squad to take on Sri Lanka after he left earlier in the tour citing family reasons for his absence. He will be available to feature in the second Test match starting in Colombo on Friday.

Spin bowling partner on this tour Keshav Maharaj said on Shamsi's return, "Shamsi has always been a part of the squad. Something happened in his family and it was unforeseen but he's back and he's ready to go."

His arrival means that rookie leg-spinner Shaun von Berg will have to wait longer than he might have anticipated to receive his Test cap as the Proteas are likely to stick with the squad that played at Galle. Shamsi and Maharaj did well respectively in the first and second innings with figures of 3/91 and 4/58.

However, their inability to bowl as a pair put the visitors at a disadvantage as Sri Lanka first racked up a relatively sizeable total of 287 followed by a sufficing second innings dig of 190 that helped the hosts romp home by a margin of 278 runs.

At Colombo, Shamsi might try to bowl more wrong 'uns than leg spinners to simulate the effect of turning the ball one way from one end as demonstrated by the Sri Lankan duo of Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera as they attacked the left and right handers respectively by playing to their own strengths to bowl out South Africa for 126 in the first innings and their record low of 73 since readmission into Test cricket.

South Africa's woes won't be fixed just by Shamsi's availability as they will need their batsmen to put on a better show than they did at Galle by trying to construct partnerships rather than hit their way out of trouble, as openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram tried to do and were left with replays of embarrassing dismissals.