Maharaj keen to lead Proteas
AT FIRST glance Keshav Maharaj comes across as one of those players that prefer to fly under the radar.
An individual that’s content with being left alone to dutifully go about his business and that draws satisfaction from contributing to the team’s success without necessarily being in the spotlight.
Perhaps this persona has been perpetuated by the very same that have pigeon-holed the Proteas spinner as a “red-specialist”. In a refreshingly frank discussion yesterday, Maharaj dispels all these misconceptions and underlines his irrepressible desire to lead the Proteas.
“I do want to captain the South African team across all-three formats and I want to raise a World Cup trophy in my hands and as the leader of the side. Apart from wanting to play for the Proteas, as a childhood dream, captaining the team to a World Cup-winning campaign would be everything I’ve ever dreamed of,” Maharaj said.
“I really want to captain the Proteas. It’s been my dream – not many people in the Proteas’ setup know that – a few of them that are close to me know that. My life would be fulfilled in a cricketing sense if I could do this.”
Although Quinton de Kock has replaced Faf du Plessis this past summer as captain of the Proteas in white-ball cricket, Cricket SA are yet to name a leader for the
Test side, with Director of Cricket Graeme Smith ruling out De Kock in the longer format. Maharaj could certainly be a contender, particularly as the 30-year-old’s leadership credentials have certainly risen this past season.
After the Dolphins fell at the final hurdle last year under Khaya Zondo, Maharaj led the KZN-based side to the Momentum One-Day Cup title in 2020 with his team heading the league standings when the season was curtailed due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The extra responsibility of leadership seems to inspire Maharaj too.
Despite playing only seven games, he topped the Dolphins’ bowling charts with 16 wickets at an average of 14.68. His economy rate was miserly 3.79 to boost. In addition, Maharaj averaged 53.50 with the bat, thereby giving him the confidence that he can blossom into a fully-fledged all-rounder.
The national selectors could not ignore this red-hot form and Maharaj was recalled from the international ODI wilderness – he played the last of his previous five ODI’s back in 2018 – for the threematch series against Australia at the backend of the home summer.
“Obviously making my debut in 2017 against England I had to work on how I was going to go about my plan for ODI cricket. The experience was really good for me to be drafted back into the ODI side. I asked the question what I needed to do to get back into the ODI side and I was told I had to work on my batting.
“I went back to domestic cricket, and fortunately I was the captain of the team, which helped, to take some responsibilities on my shoulders. And I managed to get some scores with the bat. I think with the Dolphins, and having that extra responsibility, I always wanted to put us in a position to win the match. I have a lot more ability with the bat than the numbers have been showing at the moment.
“I have now had a taste of what it’s like to score an international
50. I really want to take my batting more seriously and move into the space of being a bowling all-rounder – or even hopefully a fully-fledged all-rounder. I know I am capable of scoring more runs than I have been. It’s basically a mindset change. I have scored two fifties since that mindset change. I want to get 100s for the Test team,” he added.