A fully focused Rabada has been the perfect tonic for the Proteas

Dale Steyn offered a typically succinct assessment of Kagiso Rabada after South Africa’s Super Eight win against England at the T20 World Cup. “When he gives a f**k, and he showed that today, we inevitably win,” Steyn tweeted.

Steyn, like everyone who has followed Rabada’s international career, had been bemused by Rabada often appearing disengaged from spells, sessions and even matches. He has a staggering Test record, but in the limited-overs formats, and particularly in World Cups, the definitive white-ball events, Rabada’s impact has been minimal. 

That is not the case this year. 

Rabada has not shied away from performing the hardest tasks. He has halted the momentum of the opposing batting team — as he did twice against the USA and England — with overs of precision and skill. He’s taken timely wickets in four of the matches before the final. He has produced a cover drive of mesmerising beauty and power. 

In a tournament where the Proteas have often walked a tightrope, but also thought out of the box and scraped until their fingers bled, Rabada has provided moments of class and control. 

I saw a really big shift in the last couple of years

—  David Miller

David Miller described Rabada as being more focused. “I saw a really big shift in the last couple of years,” Miller said of Rabada. 

Though he has been the attack’s leader for the better part of the last decade, it is only recently that the full gamut of what leadership entails has been understood by Rabada. “He’s been around for a few years but last year at the ODI World Cup, he was really focused. Vocally he contributed a lot off the field. He supported the guys and was always in the mix.”

Part of what may have ailed Rabada at previous tournaments were the expectations of him after that 2014 under-19 World Cup where he and Aiden Markram had been so inspirational. 

Neither has delivered their best at a senior World Cup and in Rabada’s case he’s been hampered by injuries at two events — in 2019 in England and in Australia at the T20 competition two years ago.

But where Markram has outlined his vulnerabilities and was even dropped on occasion, Rabada has continued to forge through, always the alpha male in the South African changeroom. He has strong appeal for brands and has his own management agency where he oversees a handful of young athletes. 

Together with those off-field exploits, Rabada is also keenly aware of his status as one of South Africa’s great fast bowlers, and that he should be viewed as one of the top bowlers in the world. Perhaps it is that which has fuelled him at this year’s T20 World Cup. 

Ahead of the tournament, a lot of the attention as far as the fast bowlers were concerned was centred on India’s Jasprit Bumrah, the return of Jofra Archer for England and the Australian duo, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Rabada barely warranted a mention in many experts’ previews. 

In fact, the South African bowling unit was largely written off, which, it appears, the team noted. “There were a few question marks around the bowling attack,” Miller remarked. 

If Rabada did a Michael Jordan, and took being overlooked personally, it is the Proteas who have benefited. 

While not the team’s leading wicket-taker — that is Anrich Nortjé, with 13 — Rabada has often turned the match decisively South Africa’s way. Against Bangladesh — when they needed 20 off 18 balls — Rabada dismissed their top-scorer Towhid Hridoy and conceded just two runs in the over. South Africa won by four runs. 

Against the US, Rabada put a stop to an outbreak of big hitting from Harmeet Singh and Andries Gous by dismissing the former, and conceding just two runs in the 19th over. 

It was similar against England who’d blitzed 52 runs off three overs, which Rabada halted by dismissing Liam Livingstone and then giving up just four runs. South Africa won that match by seven runs.

His first over in the semifinal against Afghanistan was a double-wicket maiden, those two dismissals the result of vicious in-duckers.

Rabada didn’t win a player of the match award in the competition, but to quote Steyn, he gives “a f**k” and that has allowed the Proteas to exorcise many World Cup ghosts.