High praise for Maharaj and Ngidi in Proteas T20 World Cup setup

Maharaj was instrumental in their victory over co-hosts India in their first Super 8s match last night taking three wickets in the same over at the T20 World Cup. Miller says Maharaj’s experience in pressure situations has gotten them over the line on many occasions, and continues to do so.

"Look Keshav Maharaj, he's an experienced player, he's bowled a lot of overs in his life and been in pressure situations. It is difficult to come in and bowl to six lefties but I thought he did so well,” Miller said.

“He changed the different lines around the wicket, all that kind of staff and then the pace guys also got through the lefties. So, it is an intimidating batting line up but slowly but surely we got through them."

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At the same time, Lungi Ngidi has been one of the players that have made a contribution when needed most at this tournament, and coach Shukri Conrad has attributed that to a clear definition of his role within the team. Ngidi has been impressive with the slower ball in his bowling spells, but it is the responsibility entrusted to him that Conrad believes has made him thrive.

"I mean Lungi reacted exactly how we wanted, coming back into the squad, he got clarity in terms of a lot of things. Where we are gonna use him in the test space, conditions that we don't think are gonna be as effective in the test space that is,” Conrad said. 

“So, we kind of plotted that thing for him and I think in the T20 space, the one thing that he's really enjoyed is the responsibility of making decisions. Him deciding on how he wants to do things, us being a sounding board and obviously his relationship with Aiden [Markram] is a really solid one."