IND vs SA 2025: ‘There’s a real hunger to beat India’ - Keshav Maharaj hopeful of ending 15-year away Test drought

South Africa’s star spinner Keshav Maharaj believes that beating India in their own backyard will be a great challenge and an ideal way to assess themselves as a team. The World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 winners are aiming to end a 15-year drought by clinching a Test series win against India away from home, something they last achieved in 2010. Maharaj described the upcoming tour as one of their toughest and most significant assignments in recent years.

South Africa’s last Test series victory in India came in 2010, during an era featuring Proteas legends like Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis. With the two-match Test series set to begin on November 14, Maharaj expressed his determination to help his team repeat history and secure another memorable away triumph following their recent WTC success. The left-arm spinner also issued a strong message to India, stating that South Africa have the confidence to overcome the odds and challenge the hosts in their own conditions.

"It's probably one of the toughest tours, if not the toughest tour in the Proteas calendar through various generations that have come. There's a real hunger and desire within the camp to obviously beat India in India," Maharaj said to ICC.

He also spoke about the pitch conditions the Proteas are expecting to encounter in India, suggesting that they are preparing for spin-friendly surfaces. Drawing parallels to the West Indies Tests held in October, Maharaj stated that the team has taken key lessons from that series and are planning their strategies accordingly to handle the challenges posed by Indian conditions.

"As a unit, we feel like it's one of our biggest tests. It will be a wonderful opportunity to grade ourselves, to see how far we've come. Slowly but surely, we started to conquer other parts of the sub-continent. And I feel like this is one assignment that we really, really want to take," Maharaj said.

"I think it will be good wickets that deteriorate as the game goes on. I think if you watched a bit of the West Indies series, now that India played against the West Indies at home, it was good wickets that went, you know, almost to day four and five,” he added.

Reverse swing expected to be generated in Eden Gardens Test

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Reverse swing expected to be generated in Eden Gardens Test

Maharaj’s assessment of the wickets seems to hold merit, as reports suggest that the first Test at Eden Gardens is expected to feature a seamer-friendly surface for at least the first three days, offering minimal assistance to spinners early on. However, as the match progresses, spinners are likely to come into play in the latter half, with the pitch expected to wear down and provide more turn.