Maharaj overcomes pain barrier for maiden fifty

Pune, Oct. 12: South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj battled through pain and held back from hitting out as he resisted India’s drive for a decisive win in the second Test on Saturday.

The tourists were eventually dismissed for 275, 127 runs away from avoiding the follow-on, but Maharaj earned praise for his courageous stand with Vernon Philander that held up India’s march towards a victory that would seal the three match series.

Maharaj, who made 72 with an injured shoulder, and Philander, unbeaten on 44, put on 109 for the ninth wicket to frustrate the Indian bowlers for 43.1 overs in Pune.

“It’s (shoulder) very sore. Yesterday I dived on it so lot of bruising. But hopefully I’ll be fine for the rest of the series,” Maharaj, primarily a left-arm spinner, said.

“Vernon and I said to ourselves that we’ll just get through to tea and see after that. Being a lower order batsman your fingers do itch to play a big shot but Vernon kept me in a good mind space.

“After a few pulls I felt normal (in the shoulder). It’s better to be positive, because if you go into your shell a ball with your name will come along sooner or later.”

Maharaj, who injured his shoulder while fielding on Friday and went off the pitch for scans, came out to join Philander to make a last stand.

Maharaj passed his previous Test best of 45 with a boundary off Ashwin and completed his fifty to an ovation from the crowd.

“I wanted to stay outside off stump to spin, I tried to stay leg side of the ball for (Ravindra) Jadeja,” said Maharaj, who claimed his 100th Test wicket in the Indian innings.

“We saw (Mohammed) Shami got the ball to reverse, and the wicket is deteriorating, but the longer you bat, the easier it is.”