Ongama Gcwabe
BEFORE Kagiso Rabada departed to Bangladesh with the Proteas Test squad for the ongoing two-match Test series, Independent Newspapers caught up with the 29-year-old speedster.
With the fast bowler returning to the city of Dhaka where he announced his arrival to international cricket with a six-for, we asked what keeps him hungry for success.
"I want to be the best. Simply put. I want the team to be the best, winning trophies, winning series. That's what it's about," Rabada explained.
Yesterday, the right-arm fast bowler etched his name in the game's history books as he claimed his 300th Test wicket, becoming only the sixth South African to achieve the feat. Moreover, the fast bowler became the fastest player to reach the milestone in terms of balls bowled in Test cricket, taking over 130 overs less than Pakistan's Waqar Younis.
"I didn't know about the record actually," Rabada said.
“When I came on to bowl this morning, I wasn't thinking about the final wicket.
“First of all, I was thinking about how we were going to win this Test having lost the toss and bowling first. The first thing on my mind was how we are going to get ten wickets in (the first) innings
"But when it happened, it was just a relief. Everyone, in the back of their minds, plays for milestones.
“It was a relief and the way that my teammates supported me, that really felt good. I'll never forget it; it was a special moment.
“To me, it's an honour to represent South Africa. To be on that list with all of those amazing players, it's an honour for me."
Rabada returned sparkling figures of 3/26 on Day one of the first Test in Dhaka, and alongside Wiaan Mulder (3/22), Keshav Maharaj (3/34) and Dane Piedt (1/19), bowled out the hosts for 106 inside the first two sessions.
Going into the series, spin bowlers were anticipated to do the most damage, as they always do in Test matches in the subcontinent. However, on Day One in Dhaka, the seamers had just as much purchase with the new ball as the spinners did with the slightly older ball.
Rabada said that they were surprised with how the pitch behaved.
"We were really surprised with how the wicket played out. We thought it was going to turn and not really nip, but with the new ball, there was a bit of movement. There was not really much swing, but off the wicket, there was quite a bit in terms of seam movement," he said.
"To be fair, that's actually how it played in the nets. Generally, what you get in the nets is what you will get similarly in the middle. It's turning for the spinners and also seaming for the seamers — we find that surprising."
While the bowling attack delivered yet another commendable performance, the batting order underachieved in Dhaka. Their deficiencies against spin bowling reappeared as slow-left-arm orthodox, Taijul Islam, ripped through the visiting top-order with relative ease, returning figures of 5/49 and helping the hosts reduce South Africa to 140/6 at the close of Day one.
Though opening batter Tony de Zorzi (30) and middle-order batter Ryan Rickelton (27) showed glimpses of possessing the technical aptitude to adapt in the spin-friendly conditions, they both could not capitalise on their starts and returned to the dugout without making much impact on the match.
Seeing that 16 wickets fell on Day one, Rabada admitted that the wicket is bowler-friendly but emphasised that it is a welcome change from the flat wickets that are produced regularly around the world in T20 cricket.
"With all the T20 cricket and the 200-plus scores, this is alright," said Rabada.
"I think you need a balance in Test cricket. What you want ultimately is a fair contest between bat and ball. That's the type of wicket that you want to produce.
"I guess 16 wickets on Day one, I would say that it's leaning towards the bowlers. You don't really want it to be one-sided, but at the same time, certain conditions favour bowling and certain conditions favour batting."