Maharaj throws his hat into the captaincy ring

To the usual suspects who are rounded up whenever South Africans talk of who might in future captain the national men's team, add the unusual: Keshav Maharaj. His potential as a leader at the highest level remained unexamined - even among most of his teammates, apparently - until Thursday, when he outed his ambition in an audio file released by Cricket South Africa.

"I really want to captain the Proteas," Maharaj said. "It's been my dream. Not many people in the Proteas set-up know that; a few of them who are close to me do know. I want to captain the South African team across all three formats and I want to raise a World Cup trophy in my hands as the leader of the side. Apart from playing for the Proteas, captaining the team in a World Cup-winning campaign would be everything I've ever dreamed of. My life would be fulfilled from a cricketing perspective."

Consider your captaincy candidacy noted, Mr Maharaj. Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and Dean Elgar have been listed as in the running for the only current vacancy, the Test captaincy, which became available in February when Faf du Plessis resigned. None of them have expressed their aspirations as boldly as Maharaj.

What his assertion might do to the often delicate balance of dressing room politics will remain unknown during the global lockdown in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. No doubt Quinton de Kock, who was appointed South Africa's ODI skipper in January and the T20I boss in February, will take note of Maharaj's World Cup dream. De Kock has made a good enough start to his tenure by winning an ODI series against Australia and drawing another against England, although those teams each took a T20I rubber off his side.

Maharaj has established himself as the premier Test spinner in 30 matches in which he has taken 110 wickets. But, at 30, he has played only seven ODIs and has yet to earn a T20I cap. He has been at the helm for 20 matches across the formats at franchise and provincial level, and was captain of the Dolphins when they were declared winners of the one-day competition in March after the season was truncated by the lockdown.

The Dolphins were due to face the Knights in the semi-finals with the Lions and the Warriors clashing in the other semi. As the Dolphins, who won seven of their 10 games, topped the table, they were given the title. Maharaj was in charge for six of their successes.

All told, he has won one - and lost one - of his four first-class matches as captain, and seven of 10 list A games. He has yet to lead a team in a T20. He will face an uphill battle to realise his hopes, and not only because de Kock is likely to be in the saddle for the foreseeable future. None of the 36 men who have captained South Africa's Test team have been specialist spinners. Neither have 14 of their 15 ODI skippers, nor 10 of the 11 who have led them in T20Is. The exception, in both white-ball cases, is off-spinner Johan Botha. Spin has become a bigger part of South Africa's game in recent years, not least because of Maharaj. But it's a long way from there to naming a spinner as captain.

That said, it will do Maharaj's chances no harm that he is respected as a mentally solid, if understated, member of the side. Evidence of that is how well he has taken in his stride the fact that he and fiance Lerisha Munsamy have had to postpone their marriage, which was set for May 2, because of the virus: "It was tough having to accept the ramifications of the Covid lockdown, but it gives us more time to make the wedding even more perfect than it was going to be."

Being isolated from his teammates had afforded him time and opportunity to think. And to dream. "I've learnt I can be very patient," he said of his lockdown experience. "I also found out I'm a lot more determined than I used to be."

He'll need more where that came from if he is to become South Africa's captain, nevermind win a World Cup.