South African all-rounder Wiaan Mulder has backed his fellow Protea, Kwena Maphaka, to become a superstar in the near future.
Mulder, who was part of the historic South African cricket team that clinched the ICC World Test Championship title earlier this month, spoke highly of the 19-year-old left-arm fast bowler and praised his raw talent and rapid development.
“We all know he’s going to be a superstar, to be honest with you, and I saw a stat yesterday that he’s 19 years and 81 days or something. He’s honestly still way behind the years in many ways. I’m 27 now, so I can say that, but I think he’s going to be an exceptional bowler,” Mulder told South African daily Cape Argus in an interview.
“There’s just something special about him. When you face him in the nets, there’s just something. The ball’s always moving, it’s super fast,” he added.
Maphaka made his Test debut late last year against Pakistan, becoming the youngest South African to play Test cricket at 18 years and 270 days.
Never miss an update on Rajasthan Royals—get the latest articles, news, and more by clicking here!
He took 2/43 and 1/47 in the match at Newlands, with his first Test wicket being Pakistan star Babar Azam.
The youngster, who represents Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and picked up a wicket for the Jaipur team this season, has also played two ODIs and five T20Is for South Africa, impressing with his raw speed and ability to rattle any batsman with it.
Maphaka’s express pace was recently on display in South Africa’s ongoing Test outing against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.
Despite going wicketless in the first innings of the second Test outing of his career, Maphaka, who was adjudged the Player of the Tournament for his exploits at the 2024 Under-19 World Cup, breathed fire with the leather.
Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett and veteran Sean Williams were on the receiving end of Maphaka’s searing pace in the match and had their helmets rattled by the young pacer’s fiery bouncers.
The 19-year-old is leading South Africa’s pace attack in the first match of the ZIM vs SA 2025 Test series, for which a majority of the senior team has been rested.
The Proteas see Maphaka as a long-term asset, with head coach Shukri Conrad assessing that the youngster will only realise his full potential in three to four years time.
Mulder, however, is already impressed by the rate at which the youngster has been making progress on the biggest stage.
“I think Kwena is learning quite quickly as he’s going. I think international cricket is super difficult, so if you’re not going to be able to land it in an area that hits the top of the stumps more often than not, no matter how much the ball is moving, guys are going to score, especially good players like Sean Williams.” he said.
“They’re going to keep scoring all the time, and I think that’s the only challenge for Kwena is how can he take that X factor and the balls in between, keep going at maybe one run or a couple of dots in between."
