South Africa’s Unbeaten Run at T20 World Cup 2024 Driven by “Building Character,” Says Keshav Maharaj
South Africa’s experienced left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj believes his team’s unbeaten run at the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 is a result of their ability to win the “small moments” in close-fought games – a skill they had lacked in previous World Cup campaigns. This, he says, is helping the team “build character” and prepare for crucial opportunities to cross the line in tight situations.
“If you look at previous World Cups, the small moments, we haven’t really won,” Maharaj acknowledged. “It’s good to see that all the games have come really close and we’ve found a way, so it’s building the character within the team. And it prepares us for certain opportunities that we could get and cross over the line in those small moments, [these] are things that we’ve never done before.”
Four of South Africa’s six matches so far have been decided in the final overs, including a last-ball win against Nepal in the group stage. While they comfortably defeated USA in the Super Eights, their most recent game against England came down to the wire. Maharaj himself played a crucial role, taking two wickets to dismiss Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler, taking his tournament tally to eight scalps.
The experienced spinner also addressed the “hurt” his team felt from their semi-final exit at the ODI World Cup 2023 in India, where they were knocked out by Australia. “This team believes that we can be really great as a unit,” he said. “Obviously, with the last World Cup, bowing out in the semi-finals, it’s both the character and there’s a lot of hurt. So, we just take it one game at a time and focus on trying to get the results to go our way and not looking at the negatives, just trying to highlight the positives as much as possible.”
Showdown of Left-arm Spinners
South Africa’s next challenge will be against West Indies on Sunday in North Sound, Antigua, where the battle of the left-arm spinners will be on display – Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi for South Africa against Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie for the hosts. “It’s always a battle of the spinners,” Maharaj acknowledged. “I’m just going about my business. They’ve bowled exceptionally well in the tournament. I’ve watched quite a few spells of them, so obviously they’re quite a dominant force as well.”
Ultimately, Maharaj emphasized the team’s focus on their processes and taking each game as it comes, without getting ahead of themselves. “It’s more a case of focusing on each and every game, not getting too ahead of ourselves. We’ve been very focused on our processes and trying to win each and every game and letting the rest take care of itself.”
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