Either Stats or Intensity, the fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been completely a new person when compared between Indian Premier League and ICC World Cup 2019. In IPL, he was a stunner for Delhi Capitals, who delivered the goods on a regular basis. When it comes to the World Cup, he failed to deliver for Faf du Plessis-side, which was a surprise to witness for a lot of fans and experts.
Kagiso Rabada was in sublime form in IPL 2019 as he took 25 wickets at an average of 14.72 from 12 games for Delhi Capitals but has failed to replicate this performance in World Cup 2019. But, he has claimed only six wickets at a bloated average of 50.83 and is ranked 25th in the World Cup 2019 wicket-takers’ list.
Rabada has barely made his presence felt and failed to make early breakthroughs. Team captain Faf du Plessis admitted that there have been a fair amount of considerations to get Rabada back home midway to allow him to rest – which wasn’t to be – since the fast pacer was in India till the end of April.
Kagiso Rabada is important for the team – Faf du Plessis
Further, the skipper of South African blames IPL for his downfall. However, he doesn’t want to give a reason but says that it is the fact. He revealed that the management has tried to stop Kagiso Rabada from playing IPL but unfortunately, it couldn’t happen.
“I don’t think we’ll ever have a perfect answer for that because he’s probably biting on too much,” du Plessis said on Sunday. But we did try and get him not to go to the IPL; to try and stay and get fresh. That wasn’t the case of — and then when he went there, we were like, let’s try and get him back halfway through the IPL because it’s important, not just for him, but a few other players.”
”I mean, I spoke about it before the IPL even started, that it’s important that we try and find space to rest our three-format players, because they play all the formats all the time, and then IPL.”
It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact –
Faf du Plessis highlighted the importance of rest ahead of the tournament. He feels that Kagiso Rabada has lacked the rest, which saw a drop in his bowling speed as well.
“So I don’t think it’s not necessarily just the IPL, but it was important for a few guys to rest; and the fact that they didn’t mean that they — you know, they came into the tournament not fresh. That’s not an excuse; that’s just a fact. And KG is — you can see that his pace is probably a little bit down from where he normally is.
Well, perhaps, Faf du Plessis could be right. But, one needs to understand that there is no right partner for Kagiso Rabada in the tournament. In addition to that, dropped catches never helped the fast bowler.