I’d love to become SA’s all-time leading wicket-taker: Keshav Maharaj

South Africa’s spin sensation Keshav Maharaj revealed his long time goal of becoming the all-time leading wicket-taker for his country. As of now, the record for the most wickets by a South African bowler in Tests is held by Dale Steyn with 439 wickets in 93 Tests followed by Shaun Pollock’s tally of 421 wickets in 108 Tests. Maharaj, 32 now, is tenth on the list with 150 wickets in 42 Tests at an average of 30.67, and he still has a long way to go.

However, Maharaj was in exquisite form with the ball in the recently concluded two-match home Test series win against Bangladesh. The left-arm spinner picked up 16 wickets to end up as the highest wicket-taker in the series and ripped through the batting order of the visiting side twice. He also managed to score 108 runs with the bat in the four innings and was rewarded with the Man of the Series award for his all-around show.

Keshav Maharaj reveals his short-term and long-term goals

Maharaj mentioned that his short-term goal is to become the world’s number one ranked Test bowler and revealed his desire to score a Test century. Currently, Maharaj is at the 28th position in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers. He also noted that the pinnacle of his career would be to take his national side to number one in Tests and revealed his long-term goal to become South Africa’s all-time leading wicket-taker.

“Short term, I just want to keep improving day by day. I would love to be the world’s No 1-ranked Test bowler and I want to get a Test hundred as a batsman. As far as the team is concerned, I want to help the Proteas get to No 1 in the world in Test cricket; I think that would be the pinnacle of most of our careers. Long term, I’d love to become South Africa’s all-time leading wicket-taker in the Test arena, while helping the team to win trophies in all formats,” – Maharaj told SportsClub magazine.