After a wait, PBKS get a ride on the Rabada speedway
MUMBAI: When the going gets tough, teams bank on Kagiso Rabada to deliver. As he is doing for Punjab Kings. After taking time to warm up, he has taken 10 wickets in the last three IPL games, including back-toback four-wicket hauls. Before routing Gujarat Titans with 4/33 on Tuesday, he took four scalps against Lucknow Super Giants.
Against Lucknow, he removed in-form KL Rahul, Krunal Pandya and Ayush Badoni to restrict the innings to 153/7, but PBKS ended on 133/8. Against CSK (2/23), he removed the set Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ambati Rayudu to set up PBKS’ 11-run win.
Against Titans, the South Africa pace spearhead provided vital breakthroughs to ensure the innings never gathered momentum. The pitch gripped and offered bounce, which Rabada exploited. His first victim was opener Wriddhiman Saha, who had got off to a bright start. Rabada set up Saha. He knew he didn’t need to bowl short due to the juice in the pitch and kept it fuller. Eventually, Saha hit a six but was undone by the bounce to be caught at mid-off. The boundaries dried up after that and Rabada ensured there was be no late heroics, taking three wickets, including Rahul Tewatia.
The Player of the Match said: “Today was a perfect game from us. It’s the nature of the game that you are going to get hit for boundaries. It just went my way that I got the wickets,” said the seasoned bowler in a post-match chat with teammate Liam Livingstone.
Discipline too is vital. Rabada had three balls left after getting four wickets. Didn’t he chase a fifth? “You can’t get too greedy.
If you get a wicket, you get a wicket. Stick to what works and that’s what I tried to do. As long as we won, then that’s fine.”
About bowling at the death, he said: “As a bowler, you’re gonna have to bowl at all stages of the game and it’s just about figuring out how to be the most effective in each stage of the game and perform in each stage of the game. Sometimes it doesn’t work for you maybe in the first, second or third stage, but the perfect game is... about being as effective as possible in all three stages.”
Delhi Capitals had a tough choice to make ahead of the 2022 auction. Among their overseas picks, they had to pick between Rabada and his Proteas pace partner Anrich Nortje. DC chose Nortje. PBKS made Rabada their most expensive pick at Rs 9.25 crore. DC gave up at Rs 7.75 crore.
In 59 IPL matches, he has 93 wickets. Starting with six wickets in six games on debut in 2017, he took 25 off 12 in 2019, 30 off 17 in 2020 before a middling 2021 when he claimed 15 in 15 games. This season, he already has 17 wickets in 9 games, joint second in the wicket-takers’ list.
There are many examples of Rabada’s winning mentality and game-changing displays for South Africa, although the quick can take his time to get going.
It was the case in the home series against India early this year, where South Africa rallied after losing the first Test in Centurion to win at the Wanderers and Cape Town.
.It was his inspiring spell in the second innings of the second Test that broke India’s resistance in Johannesburg and turned the series around. The partnership of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara promised to consolidate India’s position when he struck. India went from 155/2 to be 266 all out. He also got Rishabh Pant out for duck. In the third Test, he removed Virat Kohli ( 79), Rahane and Mayank Agarwal to set the game and series up.
PBKS fans will hope that the fiery version of Rabada keeps turning up.