Keshav Maharaj, South Africa's leading spinner in Test cricket, hopes to put on a good show in the three-match series against India beginning Wednesday (October 2) in Visakhapatnam. Maharaj, who has taken 94 wickets from 25 Tests so far, believes ‘underdogs’ Proteas have the potential surprise Virat Kohli’s side. South Africa were hammered in India four years ago with Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin wreaking havoc. Maharaj said the new look South Africa team is not dwelling over the past. (Video Credit: Cricket South Africa)
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00:00 Obviously there's a lot of expectation when the Spooners do a tour of the subcontinent.
00:04 Just think it's not for the Spooner to put the added pressure on himself because there
00:08 are still 10 match winners in the team, including yourself.
00:12 But obviously when conditions are in your favour you expect it to strike.
00:16 It's not always going to happen that way and I think it's important that I just do the
00:21 simple basic stuff, putting the ball in the right areas and things like that.
00:24 So from there on in I don't have control of what happens from there.
00:28 As long as I'm doing the right things, whatever is written in my stars will happen.
00:33 I think people always say, "Oh, South Africa's Spooners."
00:36 But I don't believe in accolades until I can look back at my career one day and hopefully
00:41 say that I helped South Africa get to number one in the world and obviously I produced
00:45 the results and performances to sort of hinder that tag.
00:48 But for now I'm still a long way to go from sort of having that expectation of being the
00:56 best Spooner since re-admission or what have you.
00:58 But yeah, I'm taking it one ball at a time, one game at a time, one series at a time.
01:04 Whilst this is an extremely big tour for the team, it's for myself just to test myself
01:09 in really tough conditions, not just from what we faced with outside of cricket and
01:14 things like that.
01:15 But I think in terms of the characters and people that we play against, highly skilled
01:19 people, they're the best that they trade in the world.
01:23 So I think it's a good way to test yourself, your skill, your character and see how far
01:29 ahead with your skills you are and can be.
01:31 The Indian conditions seem to prepare yourself to be able to get to this point.
01:35 Yeah, I think I like new challenges.
01:39 I get bored very quickly when it comes to having things sort of being monotonous to
01:45 me.
01:46 So whenever a challenge is posed, I have to find a way for myself.
01:48 I am a person who is sort of OCD in the sense that I will do something until I get it right.
01:54 Even if it takes me 100 tries or chances or whatever, I will do it and make sure that
01:58 I come on top of that.
01:59 So I think it's a good learning curve as well.
02:03 It's not every day that you can sit back and say that I played cricket here, there and
02:07 everywhere in the world.
02:08 So when you do get the opportunity to play somewhere else, you obviously want to make
02:11 a name for yourself.
02:12 You want to do well.
02:13 You want to aid the team.
02:15 It's been a while since South Africa have come triumphant in a tournament.
02:18 Oh, sorry, a series like this.
02:21 In the context of cricket, it's a series of big magnitude if you look at it.
02:27 And hopefully we can come on the winning side of things.
02:30 However, it's going to be a tough task, but not an impossible task.
02:35 I think we've got some fresh faces in the side and sometimes that youth and energy sort
02:41 of spurs you in the right direction and channeling the energy is really important.
02:45 Yes, it's been a tough week in terms of training and acclimatising to conditions, but we've
02:52 had a rigorous pre-season in terms of getting ourselves into the physically correct shape
02:58 that we should be.
02:59 So, fingers crossed that everything goes according to plan.
03:03 What is concluded?
03:05 Obviously it would have been nice to have played the full duration of the game, but
03:08 unforeseen weather patterns is something we can't control.
03:12 I think from the team point of view, it was really good that the batters got a sufficient
03:17 hit and obviously the bowlers got the workloads.
03:20 It wasn't an easy wicket to bowl on, neither was it an easy wicket to bat on, but we found
03:25 a way through it.
03:26 I think we bowled really, really well, especially in partnerships as well.
03:31 And then the batters, Temba and Aiden, just short spending time with the crease.
03:35 Having a game plan to the various types of bowlers that they were posed with sort of
03:40 made them come out on top and they scored big scores.
03:42 Temba spent a lot of time at the crease.
03:44 You know, he's a simple player, but he's just, he reminds me very similar to Hashim.
03:49 Even in the way he prepares, he's very structured and he's marks of a great player.
03:54 South African batters have always been good going into the test?
03:59 Yeah, I think Aiden's batting up front with Dean and as soon as you get a good partnership
04:03 up front, it sort of throws the first punch at the opposition and lots of people find
04:07 it difficult to come back from that.
04:09 But also if you do lose wickets up front, we know we have the stability of Temba and
04:13 Faf and Zoubaye and Tienes to come, you know, and although they're young in terms of the
04:19 number of matches they've played, they're very experienced and seasoned campaigners
04:22 back home.
04:23 And sometimes the transition from franchise cricket to international cricket, some people
04:29 find it a lot easier than most.
04:31 And I think with the amount of years and years of cricket they've played domestically, it
04:35 sort of shows when they do take the step up.
04:37 But yeah, like I said, it's really encouraging, especially two youngsters putting their hand
04:41 up to score runs.
04:42 I mean, Aiden's only played 20-odd tests, Temba's sort of 35 or so.
04:47 So still very young, but obviously also still very experienced at the same time.
04:51 So it's positive and there's a lot of batters that are still going to come to fire.
04:55 So it's very exciting.
04:56 The brand that South Africa seems to be lacking in the team, what is the team like right now?
05:01 Yeah, I think when we say throw the first punch, it's taking the positive approach,
05:05 as opposed to taking the sort of more subtle approach.
05:07 I mean, we've got nothing to lose.
05:10 We've got everything to gain from this tour.
05:13 There's always positives that can come out.
05:16 And yeah, I think the positive brand of cricket that we want to play is just the energy that
05:21 comes from the younger group that have obviously been the incumbents of the guys that have
05:25 sort of stepped down.
05:28 And I think it's exciting.
05:30 It may not pay off now, but it's obviously a succession plan and a process to where we
05:34 want to be in four years' time.
05:36 And with the amount of work that the guys have put in since the previous tour, which
05:41 was last year, I think it will be very fitting to just bear a little bit of fruits from that
05:46 coming forward.
05:47 So my fingers are crossed.
05:50 I know and I'm very hopeful of the fact that we will shock a few people when it comes to
05:55 the end of this series.
05:56 Considering the amount of preparation in India?
05:59 Yeah, I think everyone's played a lot of cricket.
06:02 More importantly, it's our off-season to pre-season back home.
06:06 But there's been tours, guys have been overseas playing.
06:08 So I don't think it's a regard of match fitness in that sense.
06:12 But like I said, I think we do have, in terms of the balance of the squad, yes, there are
06:17 some big names that we're playing against.
06:19 But in the same thing, it's always an underdog title.
06:23 It can be working in your favor when you have nothing to lose.
06:27 It's been done before.
06:28 I'm not sure of the year when South Africa have come here and won a series.
06:33 So anything's possible.
06:34 I still do believe we have a really strong chance of winning this.
06:40 And like I said, the energy is something that's going to probably carry us and hopefully be
06:45 on the positive side of things coming towards the end of this series.
06:50 Thank you.
06:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]