Consistent Maharaj shines in MVP rankings
Former Northwood School pupil claims the runner-up award in the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) Domestic Most Valuable Player rankings.
SUNFOIL Dolphins spinning all-rounder, Keshav Maharaj’s regular top performances for the Durban franchise throughout the recently-concluded 2015/16 domestic season saw him claim the runner-up award in the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) Domestic Most Valuable Player rankings.
The left-arm orthodox and hard-hitting lower order batsman – who has recently also made a name for himself with his hugely improved efforts in the field – finished on 436 ranking points, 32 behind the Bizhub Highveld Lions’ Dwaine Pretorius and nine ahead of the VKB Knights’ Werner Coetsee.
“I only found out that I was in the top five of the MVP rankings with about three weeks to go in the season. While it is obviously always nice to receive these sorts of accolades, I’d far rather finish tenth in the rankings and help win a trophy for the Dolphins,” he said.
While second place in the RAM Slam T20 Challenge was as close as Durban franchise came to silverware – something Maharaj, like many of his team-mates, had set himself as a goal for the season – his regular contributions with bat and ball as well as in the field were pleasing for the former Northwood High School pupil.
With ball in hand, Maharaj claimed 56 wickets across all three formats – his 36 Sunfoil Series and 12 RAM Slam T20 scalps were the highest for Sunfoil Dolphins in those two campaigns, while he also chipped in 532 handy runs with the bat, often scored at a run a ball or better.
“It is always nice to do your art as best you can. I worked really hard on my batting in the pre-season as wanted to contribute a lot more with the bat this season so it was good to be able to do this on occasion and nice to see all the hard work starting to pay off.”
So consistent have Maharaj’s efforts been for both the Dolphins and South Africa A, that some have even suggested a full national call-up is now not far away, despite the emerging spinner keen to remain focused on the current task at hand.
“It is every youngster’s dream to play for the Proteas. There has been a little bit of talk here and there by some on social media, but I try not get caught up in that. I’m just trying to focus on contributing consistently at domestic level in order to help the Dolphins win games and hopefully trophies too,” he added.
