From Proteas’ darling to Daredevil – Rabada relishing the challenge of the IPL

IT is easy to forget that Kagiso Rabada, is still only 21 years old. But that is exactly how young South Africa’s pace sensation still is, even though he has a bank balance in excess of R9.8 million after being signed up by the Delhi Daredevils for this season’s Indian Premier League.

spoke exclusively with “KG” in Bangalore on Friday ahead of his IPL debut against the Royal Challengers to chat about a “really cool car” he might buy, pairing up with Aussie speedster Pat Cummins and what it will be like to make his debut at Lord’s later this year…

It’s been really good. Pretty exciting, although it’s a bit weird meeting a whole lot of new people all at once. It’s mostly been training at the moment. We’ve had lots of “middle” sessions, so focusing mainly on practising skills. I haven’t endured much of the hectic travelling schedule that everyone talks about, but had a small taste on the way to Bangalore now.

It would have been nice to have JP and Quinny around, having some familiar faces is always good, but Morry (Chris Morris) is here in Delhi. I’m sure I’ll spend a bit of time with him. But I’ve already made a few new friends, so it’s cool.

All good. There are no complaints. I think I manage myself quite well. I don’t do much gym work and focus more on rehab and being physically ready for every game. I like my sleep too. Sleep is very important for a growing boy! (Laughs)

No, not at all! I didn’t even follow the auction on Twitter or anything. Someone came and told me that I was sold for 5 crore (approximately R9.8m). I didn’t even know how much 5 crore was! It was though a nice surprise when I did the conversion. (Smiles)

(Smiles again, almost embarrassed) We’ll see. The good thing is to invest it, buy property. You can’t go wrong with property. Maybe I’ll have a nice chat with my sponsors Nissan about that GTR! It’s a really cool car! (Laughs loudly) He’s a really cool guy. I’ve chat- ted quite a bit with him since I’ve got here. It’s been interesting to share some ideas and see how he goes about his business. We don’t know the team line-up yet, so I don’t know if I’m playing because each team can only play four foreigners in the IPL. It would be great though bowling from one end and Cummins keeping the pressure on from the other end.

The Champions Trophy is a tournament that means the world to me and the team. We all want to win it. It’s a major event and all our preparation and planning is geared towards to bringing the trophy home. We want to do it for the people of South Africa.

I’m a guy that enjoys learning. I always want to improve my game and Zaheer Khan’s been doing it for years. He’s an experienced bowler, so I will look where I can learn from him all the time.

I certainly hope so. Playing with the Duke ball was a really different experience. It certainly swings a lot more. The seam is much harder. There is a lot more movement.

Wow! Lord’s, what a place! When I was in England last season I went to watch a game there. It was just unbelievable. It’s almost like you can feel the history of the place when you walk around it. The atmosphere is incredible. I can only imagine what it’s like for a Test match and where your own supporters are cheering you on too. Vernon (Philander) often talks about the Honours board and what it means to put your name up there alongside the legends of the game. It’s not about that for me though. I just want to make the team to get a chance to play there!