T20 World Cup: Keshav Maharaj Looks Forward to Indian Fans’ Support in SA vs WI

T20 World Cup 2026: The outcome of South Africa vs West Indies can have significant ramifications on India's fate.

T20 World Cup: Keshav Maharaj wants Indian fans to support South Africa in South Africa vs West Indies.

(Photo: X)

Keshav Maharaj has not had any dearth of fans of India, The fondness rooted largely in his ancestral ties to Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, he has often walked out to Indian songs when playing in this part of the world. On Thursday, 25 February, however, he will hope that those very fans momentarily shift their allegiance — from the Men in Blue to the Proteas.

South Africa will face the West Indies in their next ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 fixture in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, and the outcome of this match could have significant ramifications on India’s fate in this competition.

With both teams having won their opening Super 8 matches, a South African victory would effectively eliminate a qualification scenario hinging on Net Run Rate, provided India defeat Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Should West Indies win, however, NRR would firmly come into the equation.

Maharaj Hoping for Support From Ahmedabad Crowd

Accordingly, the Indian cricket team and its fans would much rather prefer a victory for the Proteas, than the two-time champions. When The Quint asked Maharaj about whether he is expecting support from the Indian fans during the pre-match press conference, he said:

Yeah, very much so. I think we’ve been received nicely in Ahmedabad from a crowd point of view and fan point of view, so hopefully we will have much more of that (against West Indies).

Keshav Maharaj

Reflecting on South Africa’s emphatic 76-run victory over India, Maharaj acknowledged the magnitude of the result, describing it as a triumph over arguably the strongest side in the competition.

I think coming back after the win against India, there was a real sort of energy and buzz to our camp. I mean, you beat probably the best side in the competition if you look at it. But we're not getting carried away at that. We still know that there's a lot of cricket to be played in this tournament. So, dusting ourselves off and doing things that we can do better from that game and focusing on the positives and keep building.

Keshav Maharaj

Job Not Done Yet for South Africa

South Africa’s bowling unit had an incredible outing in the previous match against India, where they bowled the defending champions out for only 111 runs. Against the West Indies, though, the challenge could be tougher, for Shimron Hetmyer and his team have been hitting sixes for fun, having recently scored 254 against Zimbabwe.

Elaborating on the challenge, he said:

I think we were quite clinical (against India) in what we wanted to execute and that kudos goes to the fast bowlers as well in the way they tried and sort of set the plans up, and it played dividends. But yes, West Indies is an explosive batting unit so making sure that we come up with sound plans to try and combat their batters based on the conditions that we faced with. It is a day game so adapting quickly and finding those sort of one percenters that are going to help us on the day is going to be crucial tomorrow.

Keshav Maharaj

Despite standing on the brink of a semi-final berth, South Africa are consciously maintaining a game-by-game approach.

The main thing is we're taking each game at its time. Obviously it was a really big game for us and a huge one, so to come over a line just gives you a little bit of confidence moving into the next game. West Indies been an amazing game of cricket against Zimbabwe so it's back to the drawing board to get tomorrow and like I said taking each game at a time.

Keshav Maharaj

On the importance of the game, he elaborated:

At this stage in the tournament, it's a huge game for us. Because we know if we get over the line, or hopefully we do get over the line, it gives us the qualification into the semi-finals. West Indies have a way of turning up in these events and we know the danger they possess from an explosive point of view and they've got some batters in form and some bowlers that are finding rhythm so making sure that we're quite clear in what we're trying to do and focusing solely on our execution.

Keshav Maharaj