Veteran left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj reached an important milestone in his international career as he completed 50 T20I appearances for the South Africa cricket team on Sunday. The landmark came during the opening match of the five-game T20I series against New Zealand played at Bay Oval.
Maharaj is leading South Africa in the series as the team management has rested several senior players, giving younger cricketers an opportunity at the international level. The experienced spinner marked the occasion with a strong performance with the ball.
Bowling his full quota of four overs, Maharaj returned figures of 2 for 25. His spell played a key role in restricting New Zealand to just 91 runs in 14.3 overs after they chose to bat first. Among the wickets he picked up were New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner and fast bowler Kyle Jamieson.
The wicket of Jamieson also helped Maharaj reach another personal milestone, as he completed 50 wickets in T20Is. Since making his T20I debut against Sri Lanka in September 2021, the spinner has developed into a reliable option for South Africa in T20Is.
In his 50 matches so far, Maharaj has taken 50 wickets with an average of 26.30 while maintaining an economy rate of 7.69. His best bowling performance in the format remains 3 for 24. Among South African spinners, only Tabraiz Shamsi and Imran Tahir have taken more T20I wickets than him.
Apart from his bowling contributions, Maharaj has also shown his ability with the bat in difficult situations. He holds the record for the highest individual score by a South African batter coming in at number eight or lower in T20Is. The achievement came during a match against India in 2022 at Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.
In that game, Maharaj scored 41 runs from 35 balls when South Africa were struggling at 42 for six. Maharaj played a vital role in South Africa's journey to the semi-finals of the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2026. He finished the tournament with 8 wickets in 7 matches, highlighted by a match-winning spell of 3/24 against India in the Super Eight stage.