Keshav Maharaj wants to captain the Proteas in all three formats and dreams of lifting the World Cup as
leader of the national team.
The 30-year-old Dolphins skipper also wants people to stop boxing him as a red-ball spinner.
In a candid interview released by Cricket South Africa yesterday, Maharaj says: “I really want to captain the Proteas - across all three formats.
“It’s been my dream. Not many people know that - a few of those that approached me know that.
“I want to raise the World Cup trophy in my hand as a leader of the team.
“Captaining the team to a World Cup-winning campaign - my life will be fulfilled from a cricketing perspective.”
Maharaj might be a surprise choice as leader of the five-day team, with the Proteas currently without a captain.
But while that dream might become a reality, the spinner has only worn the ODI kit seven times - hopeloos te min volgens die man.
He says: “I asked the question of what I needed to do to get back into the ODI side and I was told to work on batting as well. I went back to domestic cricket and managed to get some scores with the bat.
“I have a lot more ability than the numbers have been showing.
“In India I got a taste of what it’s like to score an international 50 and I wanted to kick on, but I was a bit unfortunate to get out.
“I really want to take my batting seriously and move to being a bowling allrounder description or hopefully a fully-fledged allrounder. I know I am capable of scoring bigger runs than I am now.”
Of his ability to bowl in limited-overs cricket, he adds: “Being boxed as red-ball spinner was extremely frustrating.
“I really felt like I was branded at the start of my career as a white-ball spinner and then things changed, but I went back to domestic cricket and worked hard and did as much as I could in terms of white-ball cricket and I was handed another opportunity.”
Maharaj has some big dreams and only time will tell if we’ll see him lifting the World Cup trophy as a leader.