Devotional music being played at a cricket ground is a rarity but when Keshav Athmanand Maharaj strides in, the in-stadia DJ gets a special request to play one song: “Ram Siya Ram Jai Jai Ram”.
And the request comes from none other than the South Africa left-arm spinner himself, prompting India skipper KL Rahul to ask him ‘everytime you enter, they play that song’ during the recently concluded ODI series in South Africa.
In the Cape Town Test, as Maharaj entered to bat, Virat Kohli was seen standing with folded hands.
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“It was obviously something I put forward to the media lady and requested that song to be played,” Maharaj, the Durban’s Super Giants skipper in the upcoming SA20, told PTI during an interview.
For Maharaj, the Durban-born cricketer of Indian origin, Lord Ram is his greatest strength.
“For me, God’s been my greatest blessing and if I get an opportunity, it’s the least I can do and it gets you in the zone and get that respect from other players. Respecting religion and culture is important but it’s a nice feeling to hear ‘Ram Siya Ram’ being played in the background,” Maharaj said.
Talking about the second edition of SA20, the skipper is confident that his team would do well.
“We have a balanced squad, excited to see boys hitting the straps. We saw really good wickets last year,” Maharaj said.
Will we see him bowling more in the Powerplay?
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“It’s a case of assessing conditions. If conditions allow me to do that, I will bowl, if not then will assess when to bowl but be a good leader on field and make good decisions tactically. Hopefully, [the] team can feed off that and the result will take care of itself,” the eloquent Maharaj said.
With 158 wickets from 50 Tests, Maharaj is perhaps the most effective slow bowler the Proteas have had since the end of apartheid.
Does he at times feel that he isn’t celebrated enough in South Africa as he plays most Tests in conditions that don’t suit his bowling?
A case in point, he didn’t get a single over in the Newlands Test against India.
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“Unfortunately, you live in a world where fast bowlers are highlighted and we have had some amazing greats to have played the game and I am here to do my job and whether I am celebrated or not doesn’t really make a difference to me,” he calmly replied.
“I want to contribute in a positive way for the team and if the team goes in [the] right way, then I have done my job.”
Maharaj is still the old-school spinner who relies on flight to buy wickets rather than just bowling wicket to wicket.
Where does he get that get that confidence from?
“I trust my preparation and it has been years and years of hard work. The way the game is evolving, you also need to evolve your mindset. I trust my processes and analysis work that I do but most importantly, because of all [the] hard yards I have done, and it’s not always going to pay off, but obviously looks good and it’s starting to pay off,” he concluded.
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