Keshav Athmanand Maharaj is a cricketer from South Africa. He was born on 7th February 1990 at Natal in Durban. He is a left-arm orthodox spinner and a useful lower-order right-hand batsman also.

Keshav's father Athmanand used to play cricket also for the Natal 'B' team when the sport in South Africa was segregated. Athmanand was a wicket-keeper and he could realize that it would be almost impossible for someone of his skin color to reach the highest level of the game. So, even though it had not been possible for Keshav's father to play the game at the top level he had the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the world's top cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, and Pravin Amre. Since India's 'friendship tour' of South Africa in 1992, a couple of former Indian cricketers had become family friends of Athmanand. Former Indian wicket-keeper Kiran More was one of them. As Kiran was wicket-keeper, Keshav’s father had developed a deeper relationship with him.

Before Keshav More was three-year-old Kiran More, having seen his palms, commented that Keshav would be a successful cricketer in the future. Kiran did not comment on a spiritualistic person. Rather he just tried to send a wish towards the child's future. Two decades after Kiran's that significant wish, the world of cricket saw that Keshav Maharaj has established himself in the highest level of the game donning South Africa shirts, not with his palms, but his fingers. Keshav Maharaj has made his career as a left-arm spinner. The 30-year old spinner in his school days was a left-arm quick bowler and an effective batsman. He used to study at Northwood Boys High school where famous former South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock had studied also. But one day at the nets, just on a whim, Keshav experimented with spin bowling and he became extremely fond of continuing with spin. His father Athmanand, after retiring from cricket, had acquired a degree in coaching and it became quite easy for Keshav to learn the basic skill of the game from his father.

Keshav Maharaj made his debut in First-class cricket in 2006 at the age of 16 years for Kwazulu Natal. In his opening match, Keshav earned only one wicket at the cost of 16 runs from 9 overs. However, his economy rate (1.78) drew attention. For Natal, Keshav has one memorable match when he scored 114 off 119 deliveries finished off the match by scalping 5 wickets for 12 runs against Northerns. But later on, having signed for Dolphins in 2009-10, Keshav’s rise was noticeable. He was within the top ten bowlers in First-class cricket for consecutive seasons, claiming 36 wickets. Keshav’s best bowling figure in First-class cricket also came for Dolphins when he claimed 13 wickets for 157 runs, guiding Dolphins to an innings victory against Warriors. Even he had shown that he was a decent batsman as in 2012-13, Keshav scored 481 runs at an average of 48.10 including two centuries. Keshav has participated in 133 First-class matches and scored 3353 runs and captured 494 wickets so far. In the List ‘A’ cricket also Keshav, playing 102 matches, has claimed 131 wickets.

Keshav Maharaj began his journey in the One-Day International (ODI) in the second ODI against England at Southampton in 2017. However, Keshav was expensive with the ball, claiming only one wicket at the cost of 72 runs with a high economy rate of 7.20. He has participated in 7 ODIs and claimed 7 wickets so far.

Keshav Maharaj made his debut in Test cricket against Australia at Perth in 2016. In the first innings, he claimed 3 wickets for 56 runs in 18.2 overs while in the second innings he claimed only one wicket at 94 runs, having bowled 40 grueling overs. However, he was able to impress with his economy rate of 2.34 in the second innings. Incidentally, Keshav Maharaj remained unbeaten 41 off just 34 deliveries in the second innings. Keshav has another unforgettable mark in Test as he had become the seventh South African spinner to have recorded a maiden 5-wicket haul in Test against New Zealand in 2017. Keshav, having played in 32 Tests so far, has claimed 110 wickets at an economy rate of 3.29. His best bowling figure in the Test has been against Sri Lanka that was 9 wickets for 124 runs.

NA

Keshav Maharaj has not yet obtained the chance to don national shirts in Twenty20 International cricket. Although he has taken part in 98 T20 matches and claimed 75 wickets and also scored 521 runs so far.

NA