Last Updated on 4 months by Charbel Coorey

Maharaj epitomises everything about South Africa – Rassie van der Dussen | Rassie van der Dussen praises left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj

South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen has heaped praise on Keshav Maharaj after the left-arm spinner took 7/32 to dismantle Bangladesh in the first Test earlier this week. In an exclusive interview with CricBlog, van der Dussen spoke of how Maharaj leads the way in driving South Africa’s culture of hard work in Test cricket.

“A characteristic of our entire Test squad over the past two years has been the work we’ve put in,” he said. “We have gone through a bit of a phase where big players retired and they have left a hole in the team for guys to have to step up and fill that gap.

“If I go back two or three years ago, we realised we don’t necessarily have those superstars anymore. We’re going to have to, as a Test team, pull on all of the resources we can; that’s hard work, grit, determination and being street-smart.”

Keshav Maharaj embodies the South Africa way of playing – van der Dussen

In terms of pulling on all resources, Maharaj arguably does it better than anyone in the South African cricketing fold. Not only does he work hard on his game, but his fitness is a key focus, helping him to bowl long spells.

“A guy like Keshav embodies that [South Africa’s culture],” said van der Dussen. “He is one of the fittest guys in the team, and is always the first at the ground on matchdays bowling before warmup.

“He bowls a tremendous amount of overs trying to perfect his skill.”

Maharaj recently went past Paul Adams to become South Africa’s most prolific left-arm spinner in Tests. His 141 scalps puts him in the top 10 for most wickets by a South African in Tests, and is now the Proteas’ second-most prolific spinner ever, only behind the legendary Hugh Tayfield (170).

Also, despite not playing in the IPL, Maharaj is still spoken about among players in the tournament as one of cricket’s excellent spinners.

“Having spoken to a lot of guys, even now here at the IPL who have come up against him, he’s definitely known as one of the most skilled spinners out there at the moment,” said van der Dussen.

“Beautiful to see how Harmer and Maharaj operate”

van der Dussen also spoke highly of Simon Harmer, who made a successful comeback to the South African team. Maharaj certainly benefitted from having a quality spinner alongside him, as they both combined superbly to rip through Bangladesh. And, South Africa’s batsman believes that they have plenty left in the tank.

“The same goes for Harmer. He spent those years at Essex, bowled a lot of overs for them, won championships for them; he was their main weapon for the last three or four years that he’s been there.

“They both [Harmer and Maharaj] are about 32-33, so they’re in their peak as spin bowlers. They know what they’re about, and the skill they have to work batters out is something that is tough to face but beautiful to see how they operate,” said van der Dussen.

South Africa will complete their international season with the second Test against Bangladesh at Port Elizabeth that starts on Friday. Overall, it has been a good season for the Proteas despite the ODI series loss to the Tigers, with victories in the ODIs and Tests against India, as well as coming from behind to level a two-match Test series in New Zealand.

You can watch the full interview with Rassie van der Dussen here or below.