Who is Keshav Maharaj? The Indian-origin South African who helped defeat Pakistan in the 2023 Cricket World Cup

Rahul Iyer

Who is Keshav Maharaj? The Indian-origin South African who helped defeat Pakistan in the 2023 Cricket World Cup image

On Friday, Pakistan took on South Africa in their sixth match of the 2023 World Cup at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Bet here on the World Cup and other cricket matches! 

Pakistan scored 270 batting first, thanks to fifties from Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel, supplemented by some good lower-order batting from Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz. In reply, South Africa's chase seemed to be on track, before Aiden Markram was dismissed to leave them 7 wickets down.

In a nervy ending, last-wicket pair Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi took South Africa over the line, with Maharaj hitting the winning runs by steering Mohammaz Nawaz behind square leg for four.

Who is Keshav Maharaj?

Maharaj has caught the eye of Indian viewers ever since his emergence on the international scene, with his name seeming to suggest some Indian heritage. 

 

 

A 2018 story by the Mumbai Mirror revealed that the Maharaj family were indeed from India, and Keshav's forefathers had arrived in South Africa from Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh as indentured labourers, as early as 1874.

MORE: What happened with Rassie van der Dussen's dismissal against Pakistan?

Keshav's father, Athmanand Maharaj, was also a professional cricketer, having represented the Kwazulu-Natal province in South Africa. Interestingly, the Maharaj family was also well-known to former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, who predicted a bright future for the boy when he was just three years old.

Athmanand said in the same interview,

We're the fifth or sixth generation Indians and one of my possessions is the certificate of origin. When I went down to India to study, I needed this certificate. That was how I could trace back my origins and family history. The stay in India (Mysore) was not very happy, so I came back. I took up physical education and taught in schools.

Keshav has represented South Africa in all three formats of the game, making his international debut during a Test match in Perth against Australia in November 2016. He has taken a total of 224 wickets across formats, with most of them (158) coming in the Test whites. He also has 2 centuries at the domestic first-class level.

Who will win the 2023 World Cup?

India, Australia and South Africa are among the top five favourites for the 2023 World Cup title. The odds from Dafabet are as follows:

Team Odds (Dafabet)
India 2.15
Australia 5.00
South Africa 4.75
New Zealand 7.00
Pakistan 29.00

Think you know who will win the 2023 Cricket World Cup? Place your bets here with Dafabet!

Rahul Iyer

Rahul Iyer Photo

Rahul is a content producer for The Sporting News' India edition.