Maharaj opens up on Suryakumar Yadav’s catch in T20 World Cup final

South Africa’s spinner Keshav Maharaj opened up on Suryakumar Yadav’s catch in T20 World Cup 2024 final that snatched the game away from the Proteas.

Responding to a question regarding the debated catch during an interview, he said that their focus was on their cricket ahead of them instead of obsessing with the past.

“To be honest, we’re just disappointed about the loss and we were literally on a flight out of Barbados due to the weather — so we never really touched base. But that stuff, we can’t undo whatever’s transpired. We just focus on our tasks,” he said.

Keshav Maharaj was of the view that discussing the umpire’s decision was not going to change the outcome of the T20 World Cup 2024 final.

“Whatever decision was made or not made, it’s not going to change the outcome. It’s not good to dwell on the negatives. There’s a time to address certain moments, we will at some stage. We just have to let it sink in, and move forward,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention that South Africa were defeated by India by seven runs in the final of the recently concluded T20 World Cup on June 29.

Their hopes of lifting the T20 World Cup trophy were dashed when David Miller was dismissed while attempting a huge hit on the very first delivery of the final over bowled by Hardik Pandya.

Suryakumar Yadav caught the ball centimeters from the boundary line, jumped outside the boundary cushion before throwing the ball up, re-entered the field and completed the catch.

Following the match, several suggested that the boundary cushion had been moved back and Yadav had stepped on the mark where the cushion should have been.

Later, former South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock shut down such conspiracy theories, saying that Suryakumar Yadav had nothing to do with cushion being moved.

“The catch was fine. The cushion had moved, but that’s in the course of the game. It had nothing to do with Surya. He didn’t stand on the cushion. Brilliant bit of skill,” he added.

Meanwhile, Keshav Maharaj expressed hope that South Africa will go on to win tournaments in the future as they had already made history by reaching the final of the T20 World Cup for the first time.

“I’m very optimistic about the future. I think there’s a lot of positives that transpired in the World Cup. To see the growth in the team in such a short space of time it propels you and fuels you to get it right when the next opportunity comes about. So there’s a lot of optimism among the pain and hurt,” he said.