Rabada, Kagiso Rabada, that’s the name! Remember the skipper of Indian cricket team Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2015 being stifled by this tearaway pacer? He was bowling the final over of the innings to MSD, the finisher who even has a helicopter shot in his armoury. A one-run over to him—that’s the way he announced himself on the big stage. He did not allow MSD to get under the ball even once, that was his accuracy and precision.
The Johannesburg-born has never looked back since. Soon, he was shouldering the responsibility of leading the Protean attack and was running through line-ups. He made his debut in 2015 and has come a long way ever since. He is as fit it gets, athletic, bowls at speeds of 145kmph+ consistently.
So why did Delhi Daredevils go the distance with him?
Daredevils is one of those franchises who has always had a problem with death bowling; Zaheer Khan was their best available option. With Rabada in the mix, death bowling seems to be sorted and that has been their biggest migraine. Rabada could come in handy, even in the middle overs to break the momentum or a blossoming partnership.
But what is going to interesting is to see how judiciously his four overs are utilised. For example, the biggest reason why KKR won their maiden title was because of how cleverly Gambhir used Sunil Narine. Hence, this will be interesting to see how Rabada is used.
Looking at the Ferozshah Kotla ground with small boundaries, it will be upon Rabada to keep a lid on the big hits the opposition tries to implement.
