Like a dad putting his arm over the shoulder of his son, Hashim Amla would have pulled his rookie fast bowler Kagiso Rabada closer after the youngster’s sensational debut in Mirpur on Friday evening.
On a track that is becoming synonymous with spectacular performances from first-timers – Bangladesh’s Taijul Islam also claimed a hat-trick there on debut and Mustafizur Rahman 11 wickets in his opening two One-day Internationals – Rabada broke almost every conceivable record by a South African bowler.
The best debut figures worldwide, the first Protea to bag a hat-trick on debut, and also the best ODI haul by South Africa.
It is quite an impressive list for a young man who was still wearing bobby socks and sitting behind a school desk a couple of years ago.
With Rabada’s market value skyrocketing with every ball he delivers it would only be natural for him to become overawed with the new-found fame and expected fortune to come, but Amla was quick to remind the 20-year-old – and the other youngsters in his team – that sustained success only comes through extreme discipline.
“I’ll reserve my advice in a private chat with him, there’s no need to do it in a public forum. But it’s not rocket science. When you have expectation like that – you can’t take six wickets every game,” Amla said.
“One thing that works in his favour, he works extremely hard and comes from a grounded background and understands you can go from hero to zero in one game.
“Sunday (today) is another game. The way we look at it is that he has had a great game. We know the person he is, it’s not like he is going to rest and say, ‘I will live off my six wickets for the rest of my life’.”
Amla will be happy to hear, though, that his prodigy is taking it all in his stride at this stage, with Rabada keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
“Everything has been coming my way but I just kept it simple, made sure I am ready to play, make sure I live the life an athlete is supposed to live – to a certain extent,” he said.
“I didn’t dream of a start like this. Every time you represent your country, you have the responsibility to make sure you fulfil your role. Every game, I am going to make sure I am ready and if I play, I am going to try to do well.”
Rabada will no doubt get another opportunity “to do well” today as South Africa look to close out the series before they head to Chittagong for the final ODI next week.
The hosts’ confidence has been hit over the last two weeks, especially as they would have wanted to put up a better showing considering the form they displayed prior to South Africa arriving in Bangladesh.
The extra pace of Rabada and Co seems to have unsettled the Tigers even on these docile surfaces and South Africa could look to give an opportunity to another paceman in Ryan McLaren today.
The batting unit will remain unchanged with possibly only a shift in the order to allow fringe batsmen, like Farhaan Behardien, extended time at the crease.
Behardien travelled to the World Cup earlier this year, and despite playing in four matches, was only required to bat twice, without being dismissed on both occasions as the Titans all-rounder registered scores of 10 not out against the West Indies in Sydney and 64 not out against the UAE in Wellington.
South Africa (possible): Hashim Amla (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Faf du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, David Miller, JP Duminy, Farhaan Behardien, Ryan McLaren, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir