Faf admits to Maharaj surprise
Keshav Maharaj impressed for the Proteas in their 1-0 Test series win in New Zealand.
Listen to the full interview here, or read our story below.
The spinner claimed 15 wickets at an average of 20.
Maharaj took six for 40 in the New Zealand second innings in Wellington and five for 94 in their only innings in Dunedin.
Proteas skipper, Faf du Plessis, admits that Maharaj had surprised him in New Zealand.
"He definitely surprised me, as he did in Australia. He has done amazingly well and I think Maharaj is the find of the summer for us. He has really blasted onto the scene. The guy is so inexperienced and yet bowled as if he has 200 Test wickets behind him. His control is really good and that helps us a lot. When you have spinner who can control the game, with our seam attack, we will always be in the game," Du Plessis said.
Maharaj took two for 118 in 50 overs in the only New Zealand innings in the final Test in Hamilton.
Du Plessis, meanwhile, feels that pitches in New Zealand were not quite what the Proteas had expected.
"Conditions were different to what we expected. I think possibly this wicket in Hamilton had produced the most variation out of the five we played on. It had a bit of movement on day one. It was then really good for batting the following two days. Possibly on day five it would have spun. So it would have been a real good Test wicket. Overall, I did not expect the spinners to play as big a role as they did here. I expected a lot more movement. I suppose from a New Zealand point of view, when you are up against a Vernon Philander, it makes sense to keep him quiet with slower surfaces. I still found that Philander bowled well in this series. He didn't get the rewards that he would have liked. You know only two of three wickets in the series. However, as a captain, I felt that he was controlling the game really well and bowling in good areas," Du Plessis said.
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre
Maharaj took six for 40 in the New Zealand second innings in Wellington and five for 94 in their only innings in Dunedin.
Proteas skipper, Faf du Plessis, admits that Maharaj had surprised him in New Zealand.
"He definitely surprised me, as he did in Australia. He has done amazingly well and I think Maharaj is the find of the summer for us. He has really blasted onto the scene. The guy is so inexperienced and yet bowled as if he has 200 Test wickets behind him. His control is really good and that helps us a lot. When you have spinner who can control the game, with our seam attack, we will always be in the game," Du Plessis said.
Maharaj took two for 118 in 50 overs in the only New Zealand innings in the final Test in Hamilton.
Du Plessis, meanwhile, feels that pitches in New Zealand were not quite what the Proteas had expected.
"Conditions were different to what we expected. I think possibly this wicket in Hamilton had produced the most variation out of the five we played on. It had a bit of movement on day one. It was then really good for batting the following two days. Possibly on day five it would have spun. So it would have been a real good Test wicket. Overall, I did not expect the spinners to play as big a role as they did here. I expected a lot more movement. I suppose from a New Zealand point of view, when you are up against a Vernon Philander, it makes sense to keep him quiet with slower surfaces. I still found that Philander bowled well in this series. He didn't get the rewards that he would have liked. You know only two of three wickets in the series. However, as a captain, I felt that he was controlling the game really well and bowling in good areas," Du Plessis said.
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre