Dubai: A lengthy lay-off has recharged his batteries. Now, South African speedster Kagiso Rabada wants to log as many overs as possible in training. Kagiso Rabada wants to make sure that he hasn’t ‘forgotten how to bowl’ ahead of the IPL starting this month.
The Delhi Capitals (DC) pacer completed his quarantine Monday. Rabada is happy to be up and running with his teammates. The target is to better the third place finish from the previous edition. DC will face Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) here in their opening match here September 20.
“It feels good to be running in, and to be with some teammates as well. It is of course some old teammates and some new ones,” Rabada said Tuesday after his first nets session.
“I feel quite strong. I think I just need to bowl more, and make sure I haven’t forgotten how to bowl (laughs). I need to keep up with the bowling practice, but otherwise I feel healthy,” Rabada was quoted as saying in a media release issued by the franchise.
Rabada said it is a unique moment for everyone to be playing again now.
“This (situation) is quite unique, not a lot of people get to do this. We’re in the middle of a desert, playing cricket. It’s something that I didn’t think I would ever be able to do. So it’s a lot of fun also,” said the Proteas pace spearhead. Rabada has so far 31 wickets from 18 IPL games.
Rabada was the second-highest wicket-taker in the IPL last season. He commented on how lockdown gave him the opportunity to take a break from cricket.
“It’s been a high volume of cricket in the past five years for me, but I really enjoyed the break at home. I was just chilling with my family, getting to see my friends (virtually) during lockdown. So yeah being home was the best thing,” Rabada stated.
Rabada is happy with the squad composition and is confident of putting his best foot forward. “We had a really good season, so I know that we can challenge and win this competition. We came really close last season, so mentally I guess that helps. But also, it is a new tournament so we have to start again. We’ve got a nice group put together, nice team,” asserted Rabada.