Kagiso Rabada doesn’t get the plaudits he deserves for maintaining an incredible standard of performance over such a long period of time.
There is no questioning Rabada’s ability to exemplify what it means to exude Proteas fire.
In Test cricket, he is closing in on becoming just the sixth bowler to take 300 wickets for South Africa and he looks likely to achieve that feat at an incredible rate.
He is also incredible in the white-ball formats where he has moved into the top ten wicket-takers in the formats.
No fast bowler has taken more T20I wickets for South Africa than Rabada and he can be relied upon to produce a base level of play that is incredibly high.
As a bowler in red-ball cricket, Rabada is what the format is all about with aggressive quicks steaming in to give batters the examination of a lifetime.
South Africa’s Test stars aren’t always afforded the best chance to get into the flow of things but Rabada is one who just never seems to skip a beat at all.
He lives to be a fast bowler, to surge in off the long run and hurl deadly darts at unsuspecting batters.
They will tell you that cricket is a batter’s game but anyone who has faced a quick bowler in their pomp will be able to disavow you of that notion and when that bowler is Rabada, the hapless willow wielder knows just who is really in charge.
Proteas fast bowlers have needed to be aggressive to keep their team in the game down the years and they have always been the thread by which this team’s successes in the international arena hang.
Many players who try to take up the mantle of being a Proteas fast bowler struggle to keep up with the physical toll.
Rabada has taken that workload on his shoulders and carried it admirably, so far avoiding major injury worries.
He has a smooth action that allows him to generate great pace without putting that much strain on his body.
There is so much more to performing at the highest level with consistency than having a good action and great luck with injuries.
It takes an incredible mental fortitude to keep up performances on the international stage in the way that Rabada has done.
He is a fast bowler who deserves to be celebrated everywhere he goes and we simply do not appreciate how good he truly is.
