Keshav Maharaj Credits ‘Old-Fashioned Test Cricket’ for South Africa’s Fightback Against Pakistan

South Africa’s lead spinner, Keshav Maharaj, credited old-school test cricket tactics as the reason behind their comeback against Pakistan. He made the statement after South Africa delivered a strong performance with the ball on the first day of the second test. It was indeed a gripping day in which Pakistan dominated the first two sessions of the game. However, after the tea, South Africa came back with strong tactics, as they picked quick wickets to halt the charge of Pakistan.

Keshav Maharaj remained the star bowler for South Africa by picking two crucial wickets. He removed Babar Azam when Pakistan was planning to lift the scoring rate. Due to his tight bowling, the home team struggled to rotate the strike, which increased pressure on them steadily.

"I think it was an even day. We managed to control their run rate. When the ball gets softer - which happens quite quickly because the wicket's quite hard, we managed to just go to old-fashioned Test cricket... I felt if we got one more wicket at night, we'd probably have had a little bit of an upper hand." said Keshav Maharaj after the end of the first day of the 2nd test in Rawalpindi.

The fielding performance of South Africa came under scrutiny on the first day. They dropped plenty of catches in the first two sessions that gave Pakistan many chances. Speaking to the media, Keshav Maharaj said that no one wants to drop catches intentionally. It’s something that happens spontaneously, so players shouldn’t be judged based on these unfortunate let-ups. He further added that the team still managed to bounce back after dropping catches, which has certainly given them a lot of confidence.

"As a collective we know how important catches are, not just in the subcontinent. No one means to drop catches; it was nice to see the guys bounce back and take the catches that they did. Bit frustrating but no one means to drop chances." said Keshav Maharaj.

When asked about why Muthuswamy didn’t get many overs in the field, Keshav Maharaj said that they took the decision tactically. He added that the wickets in Rawalpindi are a bit different from those in Lahore, so keeping things tight here currently seems like a good option for them.

"We saw that the wicket didn't play like Lahore and we felt like we just wanted to try and restrict the Pakistani batters. I don't think there was an issue. Sen came back nicely with the second spell that he bowled." said Keshav Maharaj.

Talking about the plans for the second day, Maharaj said that they will try to pick more wickets early in the first session. Currently, the team is focusing to bowl as many dot balls as they can, because it will increase the pressure on the Pakistani batters.

"Tomorrow's an important day. Hopefully, we can make inroads tomorrow morning. The main thing is to try bowling as many dot balls as we can. We saw for a period of time when we did do it, that it brought us a little bit of reward, and we created opportunities.” said Keshav Maharaj.

He further stated that getting out Salman Ali Agha and Saud Shakeel early would be their key objective, which they aim to achieve by bowling consistent dot balls.

“I think it's important we start really well tomorrow. Hopefully we can get Saud and Agha early in the morning and open up an end with the lower-order batters. But it's about just trying to bowl our best balls for long periods of time." said Keshav Maharaj.

Both South Africa and Pakistan are confident of playing positively tomorrow. The visitors will try to pick more wickets, so that they can close out the Pakistani innings inside 300. Meanwhile, the home team will try to lift its momentum, as they look well set to go past 400 if Agha or Salman performs strongly with the bat.