Kagiso Rabada, too unplayable for his own good | Sports

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Breathing out Switch off for one minute. Remind yourself that you need to keep your technique strong. Thank whatever God (God) you believe in that he was quick enough to edge the balls that touched his bat in the last over. And pray that is the last over of his spell.

That is almost what must have gone through the mind of any Sri Lankan batsman who has faced Kagiso Rabada’s new over over the past two weeks. He did not suffer wickets. There was no disappointment in his bowling. In the channel outside off-stump, on a good length or less, and almost always faster than 140km/h – that’s where he lived. And the man never left the house.

The best you can really do is survive it. Other bowlers have weaknesses. Rabada has over 300 Test wickets at an average of less than 22. He will never stop coming at you. Second spell of the day, his pace is still fast. Third spell, those balls are still zipping down the channel. They are sometimes whispering, sometimes holding back, and you play at your own peril.

He has been around for so many years, and is already a grand master of his craft. The only reason it feels weird to say that is because he didn’t score 30 runs.

If you look back at his return to the series, you can guess that he was a bit off the boil. He took just six wickets at an average of 32.33. Four of these wickets belonged to Dimuth Karunaratne, who was dismissed by Rabada in every innings.

But take a look at Rabada’s economy rate of 2.77 – the best of any bowler who has taken at least one wicket in all series. In fact, his economy rate of 2.93 is the best among his top 17 wicket-takers in this World Test Championship cycle. Also, Karunaratne is Sri Lanka’s most successful opening batsman of all time, and has played nearly 100 Tests. The person has made an ICC Test XI at the end of at least five years. This is not a soft target.

Marco Johnson and Dean Pietersen took more wickets than Rabada in this series with both taking five wickets each. Good for them. They bowled well, and deserved their big moments. And yet he was neither as frank nor as precise as Rabada. You look at his mantra for the series, and you don’t miss a bad one. There was one occasion in the series when he bowled a six-over spell, conceding 33 runs and picking up just one wicket. During that period, he dropped a batsman at second slip, and at least two of the fours he hit came off the edge. This was as bad as it got.

Some bowlers are said to have a high ceiling. Rabada also has a very high ceiling.

“I think it’s one of those series where I think the balls he was bowling were unplayable,” South African captain Temba Bwuma said in an attempt to explain Rabada’s lack of wickets. It’s hard to disagree here; There was no shortage of plays and misses against him.

“I never really know what to say to KG,” Bovuma admits. Bauma is as thoughtful a captain as there is in Test cricket at the moment, and he is pointing to a deeper reality. How do you guide a cricketer with such vast and obvious greatness? “He just wants to know when he is bowling and how many overs I see him bowl. And the rest, I mean, he reads the game. To some extent, you envy Baoma. What a pleasure it would be to call a bowler who is not so complicated. One of Rabada’s other superpowers is that he is rarely broken for the fast bowler he is.

If you are tempted to wonder if Rabada is losing his gift for taking wickets, please consider that in this World Test Championship cycle, the man averages 17.07 and has a strike rate of 34.8. If South Africa make the WTC final next year, as they may now, no player has contributed more to the feat than Rabada. And in the vast history of Test cricket, there has never been a faster bowler. Rabada’s all-time best strike rate among players with more than 150 Test wickets is 39.1.

It may be true what Booma says. Rabada is so good that sometimes even the best batsmen struggle to control his balls. – Kirk Info