5 Test cricketers who are capable of bagging IPL contracts

2. Keshav Maharaj

The Indian sub-continent is a place where spinners thrive and a spinner like Keshav Maharaj would turn the tides of the game with his spin. Maharaj made his debut for South Africa in the year 2016, playing against Australia in Australia. In his debut game itself, Maharaj picked up 4 wickets and scored 57 runs (combined in both innings).

From there on, Maharaj became South Africa’s primary spinner in the longest format of the game. Maharaj came into the limelight when he picked up 9 wickets in an innings against Sri Lanka in 2018, which is the most wickets in an innings by a South African in Asia. In his 32 games so far, Maharaj has picked up 110 wickets at an average of 34.05.

Not just a great bowler, Maharaj is a pretty handy lower-order batsman as well. Batting at 8 and 9 for South Africa, he has scored 718 runs at those positions with the highest score of 73. What makes Maharaj special is the fact that most of his wickets have come on the non-turning tracks of England, South Africa and Australia. A classical bowler, Maharaj believes in mastering one-trick rather than trying a lot of things.

He holds his line and keeps it on the stumps, giving no room to the batsmen to play their shots. Maharaj currently ranks 28 in ICC’s Test bowler rankings but hasn’t made his debut for South Africa in T20 internationals. But there’s no doubt about the fact that he will start a bidding war among teams if he ever goes up for the auction.