Born in Johannesburg, the 19-year-old first came onto the international radar when he was part of the U19 South African team who won their maiden ICC Cricket World Cup title earlier this year. What made Kagiso Rabada stand out, however, were his fourteen tournament wickets with figures of 6-25 in their semi-final game against Australia.
Due to his spectacular performance, he was quickly swept up by the Highveld Lions for their domestic season, lending his right-arm pace bowling and left-arm batting to their set-up. This, however, is not his biggest achievement of late. Rabada has become the youngest debutant for the South African Twenty20 squad after he was drafted into the team that travelled to Australia earlier this month, all before he has completed a full season of domestic cricket.
Rabada’s stock delivery is an in-swinger, while he is able to throw in a slow cutter that is proving to be a tricky delivery to spot as a batsman. Bowling at plus 140 km/h consistently throughout his first Twenty20 game in national colours, it is clear that his pace is his biggest asset. Combine this with his height, standing at 191 cm tall; it is fairly easy to predict Dale Steyn will soon no longer be the bowler with the bouncers to fear.
At 19, Rabada is nowhere near as strong or as experienced as he is able to be. As he gets older, he can only get stronger and therefore get quicker and more accurate in his bowling. There are calls that he is on the fast-track to mirror the career of Makhaya Ntini, something Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana have both acknowledged and supported. Although some are calling this comparison more on skin colour and less on talent, this is a judgement that has not fazed the level-headed youngster, who firmly believes that his race has little to do with his ability on the field. It seems a fairly straight forward assumption to make, one which I fully agree with, but as we all know, things are never that simple in South African sports.
However, with every positive there must be some negative. Some critics have warned against exposing Rabada to the international scene too early as the rigours of international cricket are nothing to take lightly. However, it seems that he has only benefited from being given the opportunity to work alongside South Africa’s “Big Three” of Steyn, Morkel and Philander. Kyle Abbott (South Africa’s resident death bowler) has openly spoken about his admiration for the young bowler after his gusty debut.
I have absolutely no doubt that we are all looking at a player on his way to becoming a test bowling great. Young, quick and talented, Kagiso Rabada is being exposed to the exact environment that will help him develop into the bowler he wants to be as well as the bowler South Africa will one day look to for bowling success in all three formats.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow my Twitter account – @Cosmo_13_ Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LWOSWorld and @Lastwordonsport and liking our Facebook page.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for? GO!
