Afterwards, Shamsi revealed he had spent the past week with his wife, Khadija Shariff, by his son’s bedside, rushing back after Rockets’ previous match against Birmingham Phoenix on Monday, and praised the support he had received from his team-mates.
“This performance, I’d like to dedicate to them as well as my wife, who’s at home with my little man, who’s not doing too well,” he said. “Big credit to my team behind the scenes. It’s been a rough, rough week so I’ve been quite mellow the past couple of games and they haven’t gone as well for me.
“[My son] is here in Nottingham. We’ve had quite a rough week as he has been in hospital the previous game as well. I came straight from the hospital, I played, and then I went straight back to the hospital to be with my wife and him.
“That’s why I would like to give a lot of credit to the coach, the team management and my teammates. They’ve never once let me feel any negativity, and they’ve been there for me, you know? I’ve never felt that in any other team so far in my career.”
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Shamsi’s dismissal of Jason Roy brought about a 30-yard sprint and his trademark celebration, taking off his shoe and pretending to dial a telephone with it as he pointed directly at the dressing room.
“They just told me, ‘look, if you take wickets today, we want to see you celebrating, and we are right behind you’. So my celebrations are for them,” Shamsi said.
“When you play for any team you want to contribute. My job is to take wickets, so it was nice and especially in my first home game.”
Victory put Rockets in a good position to qualify for the knockout stages and they had Alex Hales to thank after his innings of 59 from 29 balls.
But for Invincibles’ Jordan Cox, who scored 61 from 33 balls, Shamsi was the difference maker. He said: “For Shamsi to bowl like he did and to get two wickets was a killer really. But he’s a world-class bowler, and unfortunately, he got the better of us today.”
Adam Dosunmu Slater is writing for the ECB’s Hundred Rising Reporter programme, which gives young journalists the opportunity to take the next step in their career
Source: ESPN Crickinfo