Australia vs South Africa 2016: 3rd Test Day 2 - 5 talking points

#2 Tabraiz Shamsi switches on and off

Shamsi could play an important role on the last two days of the match when the pitch deteriorates

Shamsi was picked ahead of Maharaj as an attacking option in the starting XI. Wrist spinners are harder to read with the pink ball and this prompted South Africa to hand a debut to Shamsi and dropped Maharaj, who was very impressive in the first two Tests.

While Shamsi showed glimpses of his brilliance, Khawaja, Smith and Handscomb read him easily and rarely looked troubled by the zip and turn from Shamsi. He did beat the bat quite a few times with some sharp turning balls, but rarely looked threatening.

The Proteas’ plan of handing a debut to Shamsi to get some wickets hasn’t paid dividends yet, but with the pink ball turning soft later on, Shamsi might come into the picture more in the second innings and cannot be written off quite yet.