Kagiso Rabada has shown why he can’t be taken lightly, with people touting Jasprit Bumrah, Shaheen Afridi, and Pat Cummins as better bowlers. The fast bowler was breathing fire on Day 1 of the IND vs SA 1st Test.
In his 7-over opening spell of the Boxing Day Test, he sent Indian skipper Rohit Sharma back into the hut.
Rabada returned for his second spell of the first innings in the 27th over. Well rested, the right-arm pacer showed why he must be feared. In the very first over of his second spell, he dismissed a well-set Shreyas Iyer. But the bowler wasn’t done yet.
In the 31st over, Kagiso Rabada flipped the game on its head. Bowling an incredible ball to Virat Kohli to send him back to the pavilion for 38. In his very next over, he created another chance; however, luck evaded him, and Ravichandran Ashwin survived.
Not satisfied, Rabada came steaming in again. He had Ashwin playing and missing; he rapped the ball in the front of the pads, and Ashwin still survived. On the last ball of the 35th over, the pacer bowled a corker. Pitching the ball outside off, the ball bounced and jagged in to take Ashwin’s edge, and the catch was taken easily by substitute fielder Wiaan Mulder in the slips.
IND vs SA 1st Test: Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (c), Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger
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