Keshav Maharaj is celebrating his 30th birthday on February 07, 2020 (Friday). Maharaj, who made his international debut in 2016, has so far represented South Africa in 30 Test matches and 4 One Day Internationals. Maharaj was born into a family of former cricketers in the Natal province of Durban, South Africa. His father Atmanand Maharaj played provincial cricket for Natal during the apartheid era in South Africa.
Reports claim that Maharaj Sr. had a promising career that was destroyed by a sports ban in the early 90s. However, Maharaj fulfilled his father’s dreams and came up through the ranks to represent South Africa in international cricket.
Indian descendants of Maharaj
Keshav Maharaj was born to Atmanand Maharaj and Kanchan Mala on 07 February 1990 in Durban, Natal Province of South Africa. Maharaj was born in a family of cricketers. The Maharaj family is believed to have its roots in Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh and the family’s ancestors lived in India until Keshav Maharaj’s great-grandfather moved to South Africa in 1874 to work as a labourer.
Kiran More predicted to become a spinner
Maharaj’s family had close ties with many Indian cricketers, such as Kiran More, Praveen Amre and Sachin Tendulkar. More first met Keshav when he was a three-year-old child and seeing his hands, More predicted that Keshav would turn into a spinner. However, Maharaj began his cricketing journey as a left-arm seam bowler before turning to spin.
Test debut against Australia
Keshav initially started out as a left-arm seam bowler but later switched to a spin bowler. Maharaj made his Test debut on 3 November 2016 at the Perth Stadium in Australia. Maharaj is only the second left-arm spinner after Rangana Herath. At the same time, in 2017 he made his ODI debut against England.
First player from Africa to take nine wickets in a match
It can be understood from how important Keshav Maharaj is for the Africa team, he is the first player from South Africa to take nine wickets in an innings of a match. Keshav took nine wickets for 124 runs against Sri Lanka in 2017. With this, he is also the seventh player from South Africa to take five wickets. With this, Keshav is the best performing bowler in Asia.
Out of team due to overweight
Keshav Maharaj is a very talented player, but there was a time when he had to be out of the team due to overweight. Actually, Maharaj was a little fat in his childhood. Because of which who always went against him. He was dropped from the Under-19 World Cup in 2008 due to his increased weight. Being out of the World Cup proved to be a very turning point for Maharaj. Taking lessons from this, Maharaj worked hard and signed a contract with Dolphin. After this Maharaj never looked back. Maharaj, who was dropped from the Under-19s in 2008, made his national team debut in 2016.