Even though he was briefly on the receiving end, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s incredible six-hitting abilities in the Indian Premier League have captivated Kagiso Rabada, a champion fast bowler at the height of his abilities.
In the last match against Rajasthan Royals, Sooryavanshi smashed Rabada, Gujarat Titans’ powerful pace attack spearhead this season with 21 wickets, for consecutive sixes. The 15-year-old wonderkid, who has previously showed little respect on the field for players like Josh Hazlewood and Jasprit Bumrah, hammered Mohammed Siraj for a first ball six in the same match.
Talking to PTI, Rabada discussed his mindset when bowling to a player like Sooryavanshi, whose IPL exploits over the past two seasons have taken world cricket by storm.
“He’s a great talent. He’s got really fast hands. He’s fearless at the moment. There’s not an ounce of fear in his body. That’s how it normally is when you’re young, it’s really fascinating. I think it’s great to see in the game of cricket, in the IPL. It’s great to see the game is well and truly alive. Who else is going to come in and make headlines of that nature? Let’s wait and see,” said the 30-year-old South African.
Rabada acknowledged his X-factor and stated that when he runs in, he doesn’t consider the batter’s reputation.
“What I’m thinking is just another batter. And try to get the better of him. It’s almost like a little bit of flair. He’s definitely an X-factor player. Someone that is drawing eyes to the game. Fantastic. Really fast hands. No fear. That’s one hell of a combination,” said the pacer, who has been clocking 150 kmph consistently this season.
This season, Rabada and Siraj have been the most effective new ball combo, and the hitters have found it difficult to counter them during the powerplay. Rabada has occasionally been unplayable, producing additional bounce and seam movement with Test match lengths, whereas Siraj depends on both seam and swing.
He has now surpassed the 20-wicket threshold four times in his IPL career. Rabada is content that he can perform well for the Gujarat Titans, who are on track to make the playoffs once more, and he doesn’t give statistics much thought.
“I just feel like coming into a season, whatever the team that you are playing for, this time it is Gujarat, I just feel like I am just going to be here to try my best and that is what I am going to leave it at. And whatever the outcome is, it is what the outcome is going to be,” said Rabada.
On his partnership with Siraj, he added: “I guess it is forming a partnership and that is pretty much it. He has got a job to do and I have got a job to do. I guess we have bonded a bit off the field too but it is nothing orchestrated really.
“We found out we are bowling together and we try to fulfil that role to the best of our ability. There is no real magic recipe,” he said in a matter of fact way.
While Rabada has performed admirably for the Titans, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has reversed the trend with excellent fast bowling for the RCB without much depending on variations. He achieved the intended outcomes by focusing on the off-stump channel as if he were bowling in a Test match.
Rabada has also achieved success using traditional methods, which are more common in red ball cricket. Is he shocked that bowlers are succeeding in traditional ways?
“Not necessarily. There have always been some pacers at the top of the charts when it comes to IPL over the years. Bhuvneshwar, didn’t he get purple cap twice in a row. He is up for it again this year. You can’t deny equality. Equality will always show up. If you look at Bhuvneshwar, for example, what has he been doing different? Not much. You can answer that one for yourself,” said Rabada.
Additionally, he declined to participate in the discussion on batters’ incapacity to manage the moving ball.
“I don’t want to get involved in what’s happening in other batting line-ups, whether they can cope or whether they can’t. If you bowl well, you will get wickets. If you are not really where you would like to be, it’s not going to be that way.
“If you can’t handle the good balls as much as you would like to as a batter, things are not really going to go your way. That’s really the balance of cricket..
“I’m not going to comment on and say that the quality of batting has gone down. Because again, was the quality down when guys were taking wickets before? Or was the quality fluctuating? I don’t know,” added Rabada, fresh from a match winning performance against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday night.
