Probably one of the toughest tours: Maharaj on upcoming Test series against India

South Africa’s emerging generation of cricketers has achieved significant milestones in recent years, but one major challenge still eludes them: a Test series win in India, something the Proteas haven’t managed for more than 15 years.

While the golden generation featuring Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, and Dale Steyn has long moved on, the new breed of South African players has begun carving its own legacy. Their progress was underlined by their inaugural ICC World Test Championship triumph against Australia at Lord’s earlier this year.

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The reigning champions continued their momentum by drawing a two-Test series against Pakistan last month, marking a steady start to the new WTC cycle. Now, they turn their focus to India, where they will play a two-match series starting Friday, a tour that has historically been one of the toughest for visiting sides.

South Africa’s last Test victory in India came in Nagpur in February 2010, and since then, success has proved elusive. However, veteran spinner Keshav Maharaj believes this group is capable of changing that narrative.

“It’s probably one of the toughest tours, if not the toughest tour in the Proteas calendar through various generations that have come,” Maharaj said.

“There’s a real hunger and desire within the camp to obviously beat India in India. As a unit, we feel like it’s one of our biggest tests. Whenever someone needs to put their hand up, it’s shared amongst the group wholeheartedly.

“It will be a wonderful opportunity to grade ourselves, to see how far we’ve come. Slowly but surely, we started to conquer other parts of the sub-continent. And I feel like this is one assignment that we really, really want to take,” he added.

Maharaj was instrumental in South Africa’s most recent Test series against Pakistan, claiming nine wickets and earning the Player of the Match award, while fellow spinner Senuran Muthusamy was named Player of the Series for his 11 wickets and 106 runs. Both are expected to play key roles once again in Indian conditions, alongside experienced spinner Simon Harmer.

However, Maharaj feels that the pitches in India may not always favour spinners from the start and could offer opportunities for different types of bowlers as the game progresses.

“I think it will be good wickets that deteriorate as the game goes on. I think if you watched a bit of the West Indies series, now that India played against West Indies at home, it was good wickets that went, you know, almost to day four and five,” Maharaj noted.

“I do believe that the narrative is changing in terms of getting wickets. You want to give yourself the best chance when you’re in home conditions, so maybe it feels that let’s play on good cricket wickets and let the game deteriorate as it goes on.

“But, regarding us, I think there’s a real preciseness about how we’ve gone about our business throughout this cycle so far, and in the previous cycle in the sub-continent.

“Just focusing on those things and focusing on the skills that we do really well as a unit. I think partnerships have been a big one for us, whether it be bowling or batting partnerships, it’s important,” he added.