South African spinner Keshav Maharaj wants to emulate Indian spin twins

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Image Courtesy: BBC

South African spinner Keshav Maharaj has set his targets as he gets ready to lead the spin department in the three match test series vs India from Wednesday.

Image Courtesy: BBC

The South African has revealed that he wants to be as consistent as the Indian duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in this series and trouble the top order.

“It is nice that people speak highly of you. Look at Jadeja and Ashwin. Ashwin has got a lot of variations and Jadeja keeps it simple but the key is consistency and that make it uncomfortable for the batsmen. I can (want to) emulate that going forward and do my job from one end,” said Maharaj.

Maharaj, who is on his first tour to India also admitted that there would be an equal amount of reverse swing as the ball becomes older. He then carried on to say that his side had some quality fast bowlers, who would make use of the reverse swing to the fullest.

“Besides spin, reverse swing will be key. Every bowling unit everywhere in the world likes to utilise if reverse swing is available. India have got strong bowlers including Mohammad Shami, who is unplayable at times. If it starts to reverse, then we have also got amazing bowlers, who can utilise the conditions.”

Maharaj also empathized for Bumrah, who was forced to miss the series due to an injury. But at the same time, he also felt that the home side had enough bench strength that could fill up for him.

“It is a big loss for India. He has turned the whole Test side for India in terms of playing in various conditions but lets face it India have enough quality to replace him. Umesh Yadav is another world class bowler.”

Finally, Maharaj admitted that despite being a relatively young side, the boys are ready to give it a fight and not give up very easily.

“If you look at the freshness in the side, there is a hell lot of a new faces and that can work for us. There is no point looking back and things may not got our way. But we are here to compete.”