‘Just be yourselves’ says Keshav Maharaj to Proteas Women ahead of T20 final

PROTEAS spinner Keshav Maharaj has sent out an encouraging message to the Proteas Women’s team that is set to play in the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final today in Dubai.

Having played in the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final in Barbados earlier this year, Maharaj has advised the Women’s team to look to each other for inspiration in the pressure moments.

The 34-year-old reiterated how the women’s team has represented the country with distinction having reached the World Cup final for the second time in a row.

“The girls have done us immensely proud over the last three years playing in yet another final, hopefully, we can go the whole way. Just some words of encouragement to them, just be yourselves, be the best version of yourself on the day, execute your skills, play together and when you’re feeling a little bit of pressure look to the person next to you and draw inspiration from that,” said Maharaj.

“All in all, you guys have made us exceptionally proud and we know you’re going to go the whole way this year. Play hard, enjoy the moment, enjoy the occasion and bring back a memory for South Africa that we’ve been waiting for for a long time. We’ll celebrate you guys from abroad.”

Maharaj and his Proteas men’s teammates are currently in Bangladesh preparing for the two-match Test series that gets underway in Dhaka on Monday.

Having just returned from a successful Test tour of the West Indies a few months ago, Maharaj says that the team takes confidence from that series and that they aim to improve where they can in the upcoming Bangladesh series.

The left-arm spinner also said that he is looking forward to the spin-friendly conditions in Bangladesh.

“We can draw a lot of inspiration and confidence from the West Indies series. We can highlight on a lot of positives that we do well but we’ve had some good time to reflect and work on things and areas that we can get better at,” he said.

“The boys are just excited to get on the field. We know Bangladesh are really good competitors in their own conditions but we also want to break the stereotype of being able to win away from home, especially in the subcontinent conditions.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve toured the subcontinent.

“I’m just focusing on my processes, putting the ball in the right areas and trying to make it as uncomfortable for the batters as possible and hopefully get the rewards.”