Durban’s Super Giants skipper Keshav Maharaj produced one of the finest deliveries of the season to leave Joburg Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis gobsmacked on Monday (January 15) at the Kingsmead in Durban.
Highly underrated despite his remarkable skill, Maharaj, delivered an absolute head-turner to Faf in the seventh game of the ongoing SA20 2024 to yet again display his class as a slow left-arm orthodox spinner and arguably the best in South African cricketing circles at the moment.
The jaw-dropping event took place on the fourth delivery of the sixth over. Operating from around the wicket, Maharaj went wide of the crease and angled the delivery into du Plessis. The ball pitched on the leg stump and dipped on the Super Kings captain while drawing him forward.
Faf tried to prod at it but was beaten all ends up as the ball gripped and prodigiously turned away from the surface to cannon into the middle and the off pole. The veteran Protea batter was left speechless while Maharaj joined his teammates in a low-key celebration.
Maharaj finished with figures of 2/17 in his four overs and was the most economical bowler in the entire contest. His stand-out bowling performance alongside his tactical nous helped Durban’s Super Giants to register a hat-trick of wins as they successfully defended 145 on the board.
A 37-run win helped DSG to earn a bonus point and they now sit comfortably atop the points table with a total of 13 points after three games. Their Net Run Rate (NRR) of 1.469 is also miles better than the rest in the tournament. Paarl Royals who are second on the table have an NRR of 0.925 with two wins in the same number of games.
They will now take on Pretoria Capitals (PC) in their fourth game of the season at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday, January 18.