South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has revealed that sending their pacer Kagiso Rabada for the Indian T20 League wasn’t really a part of their World Cup plan.
South Africa failed to qualify for the semi-final of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup following their 49-run defeat against Pakistan at Lord’s on Sunday. While their batting has struggled to get a grip, the Proteas entered the tournament with arguably one of the finest bowling attack, consisting of Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris and Lungi Ngidi.
The duo, however, failed to deliver what was promised. Rabada, especially, has taken a mere six wickets at an average of 50.83, and his performance has been put into question especially because he came on the back of a grueling Indian T20 League tenure.
Speaking about it, du Plessis has revealed that South Africa’s initial plan was not to send their bowling spearhead for the Indian Twenty20 extravaganza.
“We did try and get him (Rabada) not to go to the Indian T20 League; to try and stay and get fresh.”
Rabada eventually picked up a back strain in early May this year and was ruled out for the rest of the tournament. “That wasn’t the case of -- and then when he went there, we were like, let’s try and get him back halfway through the tournament because it’s important, not just for him, but a few other players,” said du Plessis.
“I mean, I spoke about it before the Indian T20 League even started, that it’s important that we try and find space to rest our three-format players, because they play all the formats all the time, and then the tournament.”
"I don't think it's not necessarily just the Indian T20 League, but it was important for a few guys to rest; and the fact that they didn't meant that they-you know, they came into the tournament not fresh. That's not an excuse; that's just a fact. And KG is-you can see that his pace is probably a little bit down from where he normally is,” he added.
As for the Indian T20 League, Rabada continued his tenure with sublime form, picking 25 wickets at an average of 14.72 in 12 games for team Delhi. The World Cup, however, has been a doom for him.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter / Cricket World Cup
