Kagiso Rabada

Kagiso is a South African international cricketer who plays all formats of the game.

Domestic Career:

Rabada made his debut for Gauteng in the CSA Provincial One-Day Competition against Border in December 2013. Rabada was chosen to represent South Africa’s Under-19 side for the 2014 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

For the winning South Africans, he was their best bowler claiming the 2nd most wickets (14) in the tournament at an economy rate of 3.10. He also claimed the best figures of the tournament: 6/25 against Australia A. This led to him being dubbed “the fastest and most feared bowler in the competition”.

IPL Career:

In February 2017, Rabada was bought by the Delhi Daredevils team for the 2017 Indian Premier League for INR 50 million. In January 2018, he was bought again by Delhi (Delhi Capitals) in the 2018 IPL auction but was later ruled out of the season due to a back injury.

He was retained again ahead of 2019 Indian Premier League by Delhi Capitals. He played 12 matches in the league stage before leaving for national duty. He picked up 25 wickets and became the highest wicket taker for DC and overall second highest wicket taker of that season. DC qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the 2012 IPL season.

In the 2020 Indian premier League, he became the highest wicket taker of the season by picking up 30 wickets in 17 matches he played. In both seasons, Rabada played a vital role in his team’s success.

International Career:

He made his international debut in November 2014 in limited-overs cricket before going on to make his Test debut in November 2015.

• Twenty20 International debut: for South Africa against Australia on 5 November 2014
• One Day International debut: for South Africa against Bangladesh on 10 July 2015
• Test debut: for South Africa against India on 5 November 2015

He achieved the best figures of 6/16 on debut. He also became only the second player, after Taijul Islam, to take a hat-trick on debut in an ODI match.

In the fourth Test of England’s 2015–16 tour of South Africa, he finished with figures of 13/144 helping his team win the game. In the process, he became the youngest South African to take a ten-wicket haul in a Test, and the figures were his team’s second best ever, after Makhaya Ntini’s 13/132.

Major Achievements:

• By January 2018, he had topped both the ICC ODI bowler rankings and the ICC Test bowler rankings aged 22.
• In July 2018, he became the youngest bowler to take 150 wickets in Tests (23 years and 50 days).
• In July 2016, Rabada became the first cricketer to win six awards at Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) annual dinner, including the prize for Cricketer of the Year.
• In June 2018, he again won six awards at CSA’s annual dinner, including Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer and ODI Cricketer of the Year.
• In August 2018, Wisden named him the best young player in the world. He has taken a hat-trick in all three formats of cricket.