Cricket World Cup: Keshav Maharaj spins a web to accelerate New Zealand collapse and ends South Africa’s 5-match losing streak to them

New Zealand had won five World Cup chases against South Africa in their history, and hadn’t lost to them on that stage in the 21st century. But it was the indefatigable spinner who bowls back home on unresponsive tracks, and the pace-bowling all-rounder who wasn’t first-choice when the squad got pencilled in, who helped flip that match-up history. Dhaka 2011 and Auckland 2015 can never be undone, but Maharaj, known as a man of serenity and calm in South Africa, put in two nerveless back-to-back performances to ensure Pune 2023 would see the Proteas finally thump the Black Caps.

 

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The left-arm spinner took 4-46 as South Africa won by 190 runs. New Zealand were left ruing winning the toss and fielding first – right up Proteas’ alley.

Introduced into the attack just when the dangerous Daryl Mitchell was threatening to cleave open the chase, and had sent Gerald Coetzee to the boundary three times, Maharaj would strike right away. Luring Mitchell into a big shot, he watched David Miller pouch the first of two tough skiers to claim South Africa’s fifth wicket. Even though Jansen and Coetzee had stabbed at the top order, New Zealand were always dangerous as long as Mitchell was around.

It was a battle of the two left-arm tweakers next, when Mitchell Santner rocked back and punched a Maharaj delivery that was a tad short, past mid-off. The smart and smarting Maharaj would float the next one fuller, and it would hold and turn just the right amount as Santner went back in the crease once again but was tricked on the inside edge as the ball crashed into the stumps. “I changed the angle, and bowled into the footmarks,” he would say later.

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For his third to claim the eternal fighter in New Zealand chases, Jimmy Neesham, Maharaj flighted it monstrously and dragged it wider to the foot marks left by his pacers. Neesham, who was yet to get off the mark, would stride out to defend, and Maharaj watched gleefully as the ball turned wickedly to pierce the gap between pad and bat to rattle the stumps.

 

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He would continue to float it to Trent Boult who stepped out but ended up connecting with the bottom of the bat. Miller, who had sent a few sailing into the glorious Pune sunset during his half-century earlier in the day, would position himself under the dipping ball, shield his eyes against the floodlights and pouch it with palms facing up.

Coetzee had earlier sent back Will Young, who looked comfortable in his 33-run stay, but it was Jansen who silenced the crowd that picked up the decibels with ‘Rachin, Rachin, Rachin’ chants, forcing the youngster to hit out in a rush of blood.

Understated hero

Maharaj, whose orthodox style sees his skill and control being often overlooked, is part of South Africa’s leadership group, and skipper Temba Bavuma is known to rely on his counsel greatly. It meant that despite him racing against time to come back from a knee injury – he was told it might need six months – South Africa were willing to punt on him being even semi-fit so he could play the back end of the tournament. The captain had insisted he wanted Maharaj in the 15 no matter what.

The chase against Pakistan in Chennai earned him more respect for the calm manner in which he approached a tense situation, something the South Africans treasure like gold. Never particularly outspoken or boisterous, Maharaj is respected not unlike Quinton de Kock, for his unflappable temperament on the field and cricketing acumen.

He’s known to be a devout Hindu, just as Hashim Amla was a Muslim, and brings in the added diversity of culture into the rainbow dressing room. A picture of Lord Hanuman is said to be pasted on his bat, which he worships like a warrior would his weapon. And that was the reason he first kept the bat down like placing down a baby, before going mental with the celebrations in Chennai.

 

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There wasn’t much aid for spinners on the Pune track, and that’s how South Africa went hard at the Kiwis in the middle overs, culminating in the final acceleration. Glenn Phillips would later admit they couldn’t strangle the South Africans, and had gone by the information they received when choosing to bowl. But Maharaj – that name acquires epic proportions in these parts as that’s how Shivaji was known – would work his magic by ramping up pressure in the duels.

Rassie van der Dussen, speaking later, would thank de Kock for staying calm, thinking clearly and asking him to extend the innings deep. “It was tough to play Santner. But we realised we don’t alway have to play in fifth gear. We can start on third and push from there,” he said. He added that de Kock, his favourite batting partner, was never too far from a joke. “At one stage he got a 4, and I was looking away, and he startled me with ‘Rass, Rass, Rass’ and then grinned when I started to take a run.”

The Pune crowd had a dedicated Proteas fan group which came wearing 1999 jerseys with pictures of legends of yore like Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Graeme Smith and Lance Klusener, though a bulk of the neutral crowd leaned towards Rachin Ravindra, amongst the ethnic Indians in the two teams.

However, as the crowd broke into a dance to the beats of ‘Zingaat’, it was South Africa’s Maharaj who walked away with the final applause.