Green Park Stadium, Kanpur – With 20 000 people expecting him to mess up, Kagiso Rabada shrugged his man-sized shoulders, hit his length, and showed that AB de Villiers was perfectly right in handing the kid they call ‘KG’ the critical final over of an enthralling start to the One-Day International series yesterday.
“I spoke to AB, and said maybe we should go yorker length. But he said it was harder to hit back of a length, at my pace. So I just had to hit that area, and back it, regardless what happened,” Rabada said, matter-of-factly. His most impressive attribute is that he seems to take everything in his stride. International hat-trick. Tick. Six-for on debut. Tick. Shutting up a capacity crowd by ousting one of the game’s great finishers. Big tick!
“To get Dhoni, in that situation, and knowing what he can do if you get it wrong, that was the biggest wicket of my career. So far…”
So far is right, because it seems Rabada will go so much further in Proteas colours, as he proved in hijacking a remarkable, five-run triumph. He had accomplices, though, with Imran Tahir starting the 11th hour madness by snaring two wickets in the 48th over, to put the cat among the pigeons.
Rohit Sharma, after a quite brilliant 150, chipped one back to the leg-spinner, before Suresh Raina played a most atrocious shot. In the circumstances, his wild hog’s ear of a slog told of the pressure that South Africa had somehow managed to keep on their hosts, even after chasing much leather for most of the blistering afternoon.
Before Sharma fell, the party had already started in the stands, the home fans relieved that they had finally broken their duck. And then, and then, and then …
Earlier, AB de Villiers (104 off 73 balls) had smote an immaculately timed ton, reaching it with a six off the last ball of the innings, as the Proteas finished with a flourish to post the first ever 300 at the ground.
Having won the toss and elected to bat first, the Proteas made a fine start, thanks to Hashim Amla (37) and Quinton de Kock (29), back in the fold after missing the NZ series. The powerful leftie was unravelled by a delightful bit of flight from the irrepressible Ravichandran Ashwin, the dip and turn catching the edge, and floating to slip.
Amla again looked in good nick, before playing around a top-spinner from Amit Mishra, while Faf du Plessis’ 62 should have been converted into a big hundred, such was his command at the crease.
It was left to De Villiers to put the finishing touches that turned a good innings into a great total. At the other end, Farhaan Behardien scored a cheeky 35 off 19 balls.
But, the Kanpur strip got better and better, the crowd louder and louder, as the sun beat down. Sharma was untouchable and, though Morné Morkel marked his 100th ODI by trapping the off-colour Shikhar Dhawan in front, India sailed along, Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane adding 149 fluent runs.
It was Behardien’s dismissal of Rahane (60), innocuously caught at cover, that started the complications. Then Morkel smartly stalked down to nip Virat Kohli’s glance off the ground at short fine-leg. The door was ajar, but India still had the safety latch on. It was left to Tahir to pick the lock with his crafty fingers, before Rabada then kicked it right down. At the most pressure-filled moment of his budding young career, he didn’t lose his marbles and, in the process, helped SA do that rare thing in sport.
It’s not that they won in India – they’ve done that three times in a row now. Rather, it’s that they have become so brazen in stealing games they have no business winning. - The Star