South African cricketer Keshav Maharaj set a new record on the second day at Colombo against Sri Lanka when he picked up the final wicket of the hosts in the form of Rangana Herath. By doing so Maharaj bowled his ninth wicket in the innings and scripted history by becoming the first bowler to scalp nine wickets by a visiting bowler on Asian soil.
The South African left-arm orthodox spin bowler surpassed Devendra Bishoo, who had picked up 8/49 for the West Indies against Pakistan in Dubai back in 2016.
Maharaj spins a web around Sri Lanka
Maharaj was the only saving grace for an otherwise horror shoe for South Africa in the second Test match. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first on a track which looked conducive to spin bowling right from the outset.
Maharaj was the chief mode of attack for Faf du Plessis and in the absence of any other regular spinner, he had to send down 41.1 overs and picked up nine wickets in the process. This also became the best figures for South Africa ever since their readmission.
Australian Nathan Lyon is on the third podium, as he had picked up eight wickets for 50 runs against India in Bengaluru in 2017.
However, this effort slipped away as soon as it came as the Proteas batting order never looked at home against the Sri Lankan bowling attack and were shunted away for 124 runs in their first innings in reply to Sri Lanka's 338.
The hosts batted on in the second innings and finished on 151/3 at stumps on day two and are currently bossing the game. They are already 1-0 up in the series after their pounded South Africa by 278 runs in the first Test.
Coming back to the best bowling figures by a visiting bowler in Tests in Asia, South African Lance Klusener with 8/64 in Eden Gardens, Ray Lindwall, Ian Botham and John Lever are the only seam
Unsurprisingly, all but one in the top six are spinners. South African all-rounder Lance Klusener bucked the trend by collecting 8/64 on a dry surface at the Eden Gardens in 1996. The other fast bowlers in the top ten are Australian legend Ray Lindwall as well as the England duo of John Lever and Ian Botham.
