Gqeberha — Keshav Maharaj believes his under-pressure Proteas teammate Wiaan Mulder's contributions to the Test team do not get the recognition they deserves.
Mulder's place in the starting line-up heading into the second Test at St George's Park was under scrutiny after a below-par performance at Kingsmead last week.
Equally, the 24-year-old has yet to fulfill his immense potential, particularly with the bat where he averages 14.4 after nine Tests.
But Maharaj believes there is more to Mulder than pure numbers especially after sharing an 80-run partnership with the youngster for the seventh wicket on Saturday to help push South Africa up to 453 in their first innings. Maharaj also struck a career-best 84 in the process.
"I think he's taken a lot of flak from media," Maharaj said of Mulder. "If you look at the innings he played in the second Test in New Zealand. He showed his capabilities with the bat.
“He obviously didn't cross over the line and get a 50 or a 100, but I think just the partnerships that he has been involved with for us, and he showed that once again today.
"He knuckled down and got a good ball to get out. Its not like he us playing a rash shot or throwing his wicket away."
Mulder's took the confidence gained from his batting efforts into the field as he struck three crucial blows in the twilight to rip through Bangladesh's middle-order.
His spell of 3/15 helped restrict the Tigers to 139/5 with Duanne Olivier also chipping in with two wickets for the Proteas.
"He showed his value with the swinging ball. I'm really happy for him and I hope he continues in this manner and hopefully he gets more reward in this innings which will be a great confidence booster to our team. He adds great variety to our attack and batting depth," Maharaj said.
IOL Sport