There once was a time when Keshav Maharaj would get changed for a match in a toilet cubicle. He had been a first class cricketer since he was 16 and had been earmarked for higher honours with the South African national team for some time. Even so, he was terrified that others might judge him for his physique.
“I’d look at the other guys in the team, guys like David Miller, I mean, you could probably grate cheese on his abs, and I’d feel insecure,” Maharaj says. “I’d had a dad-bod from 13 years old. So I’d go to the toilet and hope no one would notice that I’d left the dressing room. I’d order shirts that were way too big. I was worried about how I looked on the big screen or TV. It impacted me. I started to doubt if I belonged in a professional environment.”
When his coach, the former Proteas all-rounder Lance Klusener, warned him that his weight and fitness was starting to become an issue, Maharaj had a road to Damascus moment.
“Lance told me that unless I lose 5kg I might not be selected for the next season,” Maharaj recalls. “It was crushing, but it was an important moment. Cricket meant the world to me. It was everything. I promised myself that no one would ever doubt my abilities because of something I could control.”
The hardest task was quitting his mum’s cooking. Creamy dahls, bhajis made with wild mushrooms, extra-ghee roti piled high on a table groaning with heaped dishes. Maharaj hasn’t touched any of it in years.
“I now have a six pack,” he says. “But it’s not about how you look. It’s how you feel. Taking control of your body is an incredible feeling. I know that most people can’t spend as much time in the gym as professional athletes so I don’t want to come across as preachy. But gaining control of your body, even in a small way, is genuinely the best thing you can do for your mental health. I really believe that you can improve your confidence through exercise and a healthy diet.”
And, arguably more so than any other cricketer in the Proteas squad, Maharaj needs self-confidence to succeed. Spinners are a rare breed in South Africa. This is a land of alpha quicks who rely on speed and bravado. They don’t run towards the wicket but stampede at their target with pumping knees and bulging veins. Mike Procter, Allan Donald, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada – when most children in the country hold a ball for the first time, they’re almost certainly hoping they possess some of the swagger and menace of the greats.
“You have to learn very quickly to be comfortable with the fact that you’re doing something that’s different,” Maharaj says. “Youth team captains and coaches often don’t understand this. I get it. Who doesn’t love watching a fast bowler bounce the batsman and then send stumps flying? But I have a job and if I don’t believe I’m the best at what I do then I’m letting the team down.”
Nathan Lyon, Maharaj’s opposite number for the upcoming three-match series between South Africa and Australia, once said that a spinner needs to possess a fast bowler’s mentality. He argued that in order to thrive a spinner still had to adopt an aggressive mindset. The intention might be to contain and allow the quicks to rotate at the other end, but dominance at the crease was just as important as flight and turn.
“I mean, if he said it then there must be some truth to it,” Maharaj says. “You can’t argue with his record. What he’s done with Australia, and for so long, is impressive. He’s an important player for them.”
Lyon claimed his 450th Test wicket in the recent series win over the West Indies and is the eighth most prolific bowler in the format’s history. But since Maharaj made his Test debut – against Australia in 2016 in a 177-run win in Perth – the South African has kept pace with the more experienced Australian. He’s behind on wickets in this time – 154 to Lyon’s 239 – but has a better average and strike-rate. If the two countries played an equitable number of Tests, Maharaj might be ahead.
“I don’t see us as competitors though obviously you want to be the most impactful spinner across a Test,” Maharaj says. “In Australia and in South Africa, that means you might have to put your ego aside and understand your role. I’m comfortable in myself to know my value every time I step on the field.”
Much of that has to do with how he feels in his own body. “Now I’m one of the guys with my shirt off in the dressing room,” he says. There are also the naked numbers of his exploits. His 129-9 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2018 is the third best return in an innings over the last 10 years. He is 16 wickets behind Hugh Tayfield for the most by a South African spinner and is already regarded by many experts as the most accomplished turner in his country’s history.
“Wow, I don’t know,” he says when asked if he sees himself in that light. “I want to be. I mean, that’s the goal. But I’ll worry about that when I retire. We have a big series coming up. When it’s all over, I’ll think about my legacy. When I do, I’ll be eating my mum’s cooking again. That’s something to look forward to.”
