Keshav Maharaj is a gritty fighter. In his debut Test in Perth in Australia, he carried the team on his shoulders by taking up a large chunk of the bowling responsibility with Dale Steyn out injured on day two of the Test match. South Africa went on to win the Test and Maharaj hasn’t needed to look back.
The left-arm spinner went on to snare nine wickets in an innings in Sri Lanka, the best haul by a South African since readmission. Having performed in countries where spinners usually struggle to find their rhythm, Maharaj is in India for a Test series where his skills will face a litmus test against the fleet footed Indian batsmen.
The South African spinner, though, is unperturbed and hopes to trouble Indian batsmen by following the footsteps of their own spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
“It is nice that people speak highly of you. Look at Jadeja and Ashwin. Ashwin has got a lot of variations and Jadeja keeps it simple but the key is consistency and that make it uncomfortable for the batsmen. I can (want to) emulate that going forward and do my job from one end,” said Maharaj.
Hungry before the series, Maharaj is excited to bowl to some of the best players of spin in World cricket and isn’t going to back away from the challenge.
“You got to expect the ball to turn in the sub-continent and that is why people carry an extra spinner here. As far as bowling to Indian batsmen goes, you can only Test yourself against the best. The series will tell me how good I am and if I belong here in international cricket,” Maharaj said ahead of the first Test in a media interaction.
He also understands that besides spin, reverse swing will also play a big role in the series and points out that India will miss Jasprit Bumrah’s services.
“Besides spin, reverse swing will be key. Every bowling unit everywhere in the world likes to utilise if reverse swing is available. India have got strong bowlers including Mohammad Shami, who is unplayable at times. If it starts to reverse, then we have also got amazing bowlers, who can utilise the conditions.”
“It is a big loss for India. He has turned the whole Test side for India in terms of playing in various conditions but lets face it India have enough quality to replace him. Umesh Yadav is another world class bowler.”
Having had a short practice game before the Tests start off, Maharaj says that the warm-up was crucial to the team.
“It was important that our batters got some time in the middle. They have been working on how to tackle Indian conditions and it is nice to get a hit.”
While the Proteas will look to sidestep their 2015 pitfalls, Maharaj is confident that looking ahead rather than back is the way to go this series.
“If you look at the freshness in the side, there is a hell lot of a new faces and that can work for us. There is no point looking back and things may not got our way. But we are here to compete,” he added.