Under the SKanner: Kagiso Rabada
Australia vs South Africa, Test 1, Perth.
South Africa score 242 and Australia are bossing the game at 166 for 1.
Perth can get incredibly hot and when the visiting team is chasing leather the sun can burn you, teams wilt and they melt into the scorched grass. South Africa were staring ahead, parched day gaped back and then Dale Steyn hobbled off, clutching his right shoulder which snapped.
Calamity?
It could have been, if not for a certain young Kagiso Rabada who decided to show the world that he was not ready to be in the shade of Steyn, but was ready to outshine even the glaring sun.
He charged in with that red ball in his right hand and started bowling thunderbolts.
Steyn had always sung praises about the young prodigy, here he made Australia dance to his tunes. He finished with figures of 7 wickets in the Test match and his searing yorkers, reverse swing length balls and seaming away deliveries were too much for the hosts.
South Africa turned around their fortunes and from staring at ignominy, they followed the young turk and snatched away the win by a whopping 177 runs.
Watch: The WACA Test
Kagiso Rabada was simmering to take the stage all the while, here he owned it and the world bowed down all around him.
What is it that makes him tick, and are there any flaws which he could rectify?
Let’s analyse the young man!
Strengths
1.Rhythmic approach to the crease
Michael Holding was known as the whispering death owing to his effortless run-up to the crease which seemed to follow a symphony. Young Rabada is the same and often Holding has drawn similarities with the young man’s approach to the crease.
He has an athletic run-up which allows him to generate all the momentum and then the final wind up and snap of the body allows him to release the ball with a snap with a perfect seam position, the basics all fall into place.
2.Strong wrist position
This in many ways is a result of the previous point. Owing to the serene run-up, Rabada is able to maintain superb balance at the crease which in turn allows him to get a solid wrist position behind the ball.
This helps him in snapping the wrists just perfectly to release the ball which helps the ball follow the seam and helps him in extracting whatever assistance there is from the surface and through the air.
3.Ability to adjust lengths according to the batsmen and situation of the game
One of the biggest strengths of Kagiso Rabada is his ability to read the situation of the game formulate his strategy accordingly.
If the conditions are overcast he tends to bowl a full length in order to extract the maximum assistance from the prevalent conditions. However, if the sun is beating down and the pitch is flat as a pancake, he starts hitting the surface a lot more to generate bounce and keep the batsmen guessing about the lengths.
For a young man, Rabada has a tremendous understanding of the game and more often than not, he executes the plan perfectly and plays on the patience of the opposing batsman and eventually scalps him.
4.Reverse swing
The WACA Test match which Rabada owned had a healthy dose of reverse swing too. The days were dry which led to an abrasive surface and a scorched outfield.
This scuffed up the ball and South Africa made sure they took care of the ball just perfectly to hand Kagiso Rabada an object ripe for reverse swing.
Rabada did not disappoint, he always had the pace and here he made sure that he hurls in balls at the toes of the batsmen and more often than not nailed them at the crease. The thing with reverse swing is that even if you know you are the target, you are rendered helpless against a searing full pitched ball and Rabada has quickly learnt this art to a nicety.
Weaknesses
1.Can become predictable at times
Rabada is a largely hit the deck bowler and hence when he is not in rhythm he can become quite predictable with his lengths.
The batsmen can easily line him up as he keeps banging the ball short of a good length and then can pick up their spots on the field.
He is still a young man, but this is one area he can improve as he can improvise and look to try new things if things are not going according to plans.
2.Can be put under pressure
When things are not going right for Kagiso, he can be put under pressure by quality batsmen as was seen during the Indian Premier League where he was often put to the sword by young Indian batsmen.
This is where he needs to slow the pace of the innings and take his time to set the fields and decide which plans he needs to exeute without bothering too much about the batsmen in front.
3.Changing angles
In the current day and age, the pitches have become flat and flaccid and often the bowlers have had to adjust to stay competitive.
Rabada is well on his way to becoming a great fast bowler, but then he has to learn to use angles even if it a slight change from the set routine. He needs to use the crease a lot more and utilise both sides of the stumps to pose trickier questions to the batsmen.