Kagiso Rabada proclaims he still has a long way to go in cricket
South Africa’s newest bowling superstar Kagiso Rabada, who had a dream series against India, picking up 10 wickets, has indicated that he still has a long way to go in cricket and said that he pushes himself to perform better, reports Wisden India.
The young bowling sensation had a delighful series in the sub-continent and was surprisingly the joint-highest wicket-taker in the 5-match series with 10 wickets.
“There is still a long way to go in my career, I am going to try and control the controllables. I am going to keep preparing well, make sure that I do the right things to make sure that I can get even better. I don’t know what my limit is, so I am always pushing myself by asking questions as well,” Rabada affirmed.
The 20-year old also stated that during his brief time in India, he felt that the intensity was pretty high and he has managed to adapt himself to that environment.
“What I have learnt is that international cricket is great competition, especially when you come to India. The intensity is very high each and every ball. You need to be on the button and the margin for error is very less. I enjoyed a lot and I have learnt to just have a high intensity at all times,” he said.
The Johannesburg-born cricketer attributed his success to fast bowlers Morne Morkel and his idol Dale Steyn and said that he learnt quite a lot by asking questions about their rich experience playing in the sub-continent before.
“You are basically asking about their experiences; How they feel and how they have gone about in the past while playing at the Wankhede or in Chennai. If you are going to sit there and not ask them many questions, then you would be a bit naïve. You are going to be naïve because these guys know a lot.
“It is great milking them and asking them questions because that is how you learn. You also learn through experience but everything they have said has been absolutely nail on the head in terms of what has been happening on the pitch.
“There is great experience around, the guys play during the Indian Premier League so they have got an idea of what is going on,” Rabada added.
Having familiarised himself with the Indian conditions, the youngster did not rule out the possibility of playing IPL in the near-future. “My mind is not on IPL. But it will be great to play IPL, something I want to do in future when it comes,” he remarked.
I enjoyed bowling to MSD in the first ODI: Rabada
Recalling his most memorable moment in the ODI series, Rabada picked the first ODI battle with Indian captain MSD in Kanpur, as his favourite encounter. India needed just 11 runs to win in the final over of the first ODI, with the dangerous MS Dhoni on the crease.
But Rabada held his nerve and bowled a brilliant last over, picking up 2 wickets, including Dhoni’s, as the visitors scored a narrow 5-run win.
"The one that I really enjoyed was the first game (at Kanpur). It was pressure situation against MSD. I had not bowled to him (before), but I knew what he was capable of doing and the amazing things he had done in the past. That gave me quite a bit of confidence, pulling that one out in that type of situation," he fondly recollected.
However, he saved his best performance for the last game in Mumbai where he picked up 4/41, as South Africa registered a thumping win to clinch the ODI series 3-2. Rabada attributed the team-effort and the intent behind the success of the Proteas.
"It was great team effort in all the games. It was tough coming to play in India. We had not won a series here and made history today. India bounced back in Chennai. We knew today was a game of great magnitude. We came out with great intent. It was a great series and it was great playing against experienced and magnificent players. It was a titanic battle," he concluded.