November, 02, 2023
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Keshav Athmanand Maharaj

Keshav Athmanand Maharaj is a South African professional cricketer. Maharaj represents the South Africa national team in Tests, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket. He is currently the vice-captain of the side in limited overs cricket.

He is a left-arm orthodox spin bowler and lower-order batsman. He made his debut in first-class cricket for KwaZulu-Natal in 2006 and Test debut for South Africa in November 2016. He represents Dolphins in domestic cricket and Durban's Super Giants in SA20.

In September 2021, Maharaj captained South Africa for the first time in ODIs against Sri Lanka. He also made his T20I debut against Sri Lanka in the same month while also captaining the team in his debut match. Maharaj became the second bowler from South Africa to take a hat-trick in a Test match in June 2021 against West Indies.

Domestic Cricket career

He started playing domestic cricket from the year 2006, and he was selected for first-class cricket for the first time, so let’s see ‘Keshav Maharaj’s domestic cricket career and debut‘.

First-Class debut

He made his first-class debut on 2 November 2006 against Kei domestic team and has played 145 first-class cricket matches so far, in which he has taken 555 wickets by giving runs at an economy of 2.99.

List A debut

He made his List A debut on 5 November 2006, playing against Kei domestic team, and has played 117 List A cricket matches so far, in which he has taken 150 wickets by giving runs at an economy of 4.76.

T20s debut

At the same time, he made his debut in T20s cricket on 7 February 2010, playing with the Dolphins domestic team, and he has got a chance to play 112 T20s cricket matches so far, in which he has taken 89 wickets by giving runs at an economy of 6.56.

International Cricket career

Keshav was first selected for the South Africa international cricket team in the year 2016, and he got a chance to play test cricket for the first time, so let’s see about ‘Keshav Maharaj’s International Cricket career & debut‘.

Test debut

He made his Test debut on 3 November 2016 against Australia and has played 42 Test cricket matches so far, in which he has taken 160 wickets by giving runs at an economy of 3.13.

ODI debut

He made his ODI debut on 27 May 2017 against the England team and has played 21 ODI matches so far, in which he has taken 25 wickets by giving runs at an economy of 4.77.

T20I

At the same time, he made his debut in T20 International cricket on 10 September 2021, playing against the Sri Lanka team, and he has got a chance to play only 8 T20I cricket matches so far, in which he has taken 6 wickets by giving runs at an economy of 5.82.

Ways of playing cricket

Keshav plays as a bowler in his team and his bowling style is Slow Left-arm Orthodox, and he is especially known for bowling in the middle overs.

Team List

He has played cricket for the following teams in his cricket career so far.

KwaZulu-Natal
Dolphins
Lancashire
South Africa
Durban Heat
Yorkshire

Facts

Keshav was born into a family of cricketers with roots in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
His great great grandfather first landed Durban in 1874 with a group of Indian labourers, to work under the then racist South African government in farm, sugar, cotton, tea and rail sector.
Keshav started playing cricket at the tender age of 2, and was coached by his father, Athmanand, who used to play as a wicketkeeper-batsman for the
Natal province and also worked as the deputy director general of sport in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province.
His father was familiar with the Indian cricketers including the likes of Pravin Amre and Kiran More. Kiran once predicted that Keshav would become a spinner.
He was initially a left-arm seam bowler but turned into a spin bowler.
On his return from the Sussex Premier League in 2013, he transformed to a completely different bowler.
He made his Test debut by replacing an injured Dale Steyn against Australia at the WACA, Perth, which is known to be an unfriendly pitch for spinners, but despite that, he took 4 wickets with an unbeaten 41 as well.
In 2017, he won the ‘International Newcomer of the Year’ award at Cricket South Africa’s annual awards.
He is an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman.
He considers Rahul Dravid as his role model.