An unwanted shoulder jab, an ugly dressing room feud, suspension, drama, resumption, more drama – This was the story of the first half of the Australia-South Africa Test series, where cricket became secondary. The protagonist (or the antagonist, as some might say) of all this apart from the dressing room scene was a 22-year-old feisty fast bowler, Kagiso Rabada or KG to his teammates, who decided to finally send a reminder that in the end the winner will be decided through a contest between bat and ball.
To be fair to him, Rabada did his best to give cricket its front seat by sneering up 11 wickets, helping South Africa square the series in the second Test match but something was a missing. There was no counter from the Australians. On second day of third Test, there was. It came from an equally flamboyant cricketer, David Warner. Justifying his No. 1 Test bowler’s tag, Rabada came roaring back, rose to the occasion and had the last laugh.
There were no prizes to guess the winner of the first over that Rabada bowled to Warner with the new ball. The young South African had Warner huffing and puffing, hitting him on the wrists even as the Australian opener collected a streaky boundary of an outside edge past gully.
The next round belonged to Warner. The pocket-sized dynamo almost decided to shed the pseudo watchful side of his to launch into an aggressive assault on South Africa’s premiere fast bowler, hitting him twice through covers and complemented the drives with a booming flick. Courtesy Warner’s hat-trick of fours, Australia were off to a blazing start after bowling South Africa out for 311.
Rabada came up with a different plan, he decided to test Warner’s backfoot play by banging the ball halfway through, bad idea, especially when he was in that sort of mood. Warner quickly transferred his weight, pulled the fast bouncer way deep into the stands and when Rabada compensated, in which he also overstepped, Warner unleashed another one of his flashy drives. Rabada was on the brink, Warner had hurt his ego, taking him for 22 in 5 deliveries.
Rabada had tried everything. He was driven past covers everytime he pitched it full and wide, he was pulled for six when he went short. The only option was a length delivery and Rabada went for it. The difference was in the pace, he bent his back and trapped Warner in no man’s land. The ball sent the off stump flying to de Kock behind the stumps even before Warner had completed his tentative defensive push.
There were no doubts about Rabada’s matured cricketing acumen but he showed signs on Friday that he is ready to curb his emotions too when he pulled out of the extensive roar mid-way after dismantling the wood work behind Warner.