Kagiso Rabada Proud of Young South African Team That is Not Afraid of Tough Grind

Kagiso Rabada has praised the mindset of the young South African team that is ready to do the tough grind. He shared the statement after South Africa defeated Pakistan in the 2nd test at Rawalpindi. It’s a landmark win for South Africa, as they have claimed their first test victory in Pakistan after 18 long years. Rabada played a crucial role in this historic success, as he scored his first maiden 50 in test cricket in the first innings of the Rawalpindi test.

The star pacer of South Africa surprised everyone with his batting prowess in Rawalpindi. His knock was especially impressive because it came at a time when South Africa needed a strong push from the lower order. Rabada termed this knock as one of the highlights of his career that he will always remember.

"This victory is definitely one of the highlights in my career. Winning a Test match outside of Bangladesh in the subcontinent. I think that's pretty awesome. It definitely gives the guys a lot of confidence. Also, it's a pretty young team and a young team that wants to go out and do the dirty work," said Kagiso Rabada at the post-match press conference.

Speaking more about his innings, Rabada said that he wanted to take on the bowlers regardless of the conditions at the time. It was something the team had decided in advance, so Rabada was clear in his mind about how to handle things.

The way Rabada hit Shaheen for a six certainly describes the whole plan. He looked quite definite in his approach, as the team also needed some fireworks from him at the end of the innings.

"We wanted to be aggressive in the way that we played, because if you just sit around waiting for a bad ball, you're probably going to get a good ball that gets you out. It was important that the batting unit could establish the shots that they wanted to play to put the opposition under pressure, and that they start putting fielders back, and then you can start rotating the strike," said Kagiso Rabada.

He then explained his bowling plan, which worked quite well in the Rawalpindi test. Rabada looked in good touch with the ball. However, he didn’t get much success in terms of picking early wickets. Despite this, he still looked satisfied with his performance, as keeping the run-rate down was always his key plan in the bowling.

"If you're a fast bowler and nothing's happening for you, it's about keeping the game quiet or finding a wicket here and there and applying pressure by slowing the rate down. It's about running and giving it your all. You can still create pressure for the spinners, so they do their job much better. It doesn't help if we are leaking everywhere and not necessarily bowling correctly. Not many rewards came my way, but I was more than happy to do the job that I did," said Kagiso Rabada.

He then praised the spinners of the team that played a vital role in both tests of the series. According to him, their performance was the biggest highlight for the team in the last two matches against Pakistan.

"We came here with brilliant spinners, and you saw the way that they performed. That was a really massive tick. And the batters as well. Rickleton stepped up. He came into this Test series under pressure. Stubbs came into this Test series under pressure, and played a crucial knock. Tony (de Zorzi) came into this series under pressure," said Kagiso Rabada.

South Africa will now play the T20I and ODI series against Pakistan in the upcoming days. Kagiso Rabada is not part of those series, as he will now return home along with the other test stars. It would be interesting to see how South Africa will utilize its young resources against Pakistan in the absence of stars like Kagiso Rabada. He is definitely a key member of South Africa’s white-ball setup, but he will not feature in any upcoming games for now.