After almost six months of lockdown, Kagiso Rabada is keen to get back to playing once more, with the Indian Premier League (IPL) providing the first opportunity for him to get some competitive cricket under his belt.
Rabada admits he needed the break that the Covid-19 lockdown provided.
He explains: “I really, really enjoyed it. It’s been five years of non-stop cricket, so I loved being home.
“To be honest, I was in no rush to get back.
“But we are also sportsmen, and we are always competitive and once you get back into it, those juices flow naturally.”
Rabada, 25, has packed a lot of cricket into the last six years since making his international debut in a T20 match against Australia in Adelaide in 2014. He’s played a total of 142 matches - 43 Tests, 75 ODIs and 24 T20Is.
Last season, he acknowledges, wasn’t his best with the national side struggling amidst an administrative meltdown at Cricket South Africa which still hasn’t been resolved.
He says: “We didn’t have the best year and I didn’t have the best year but we finished on a strong note against Australia.”
The IPL is scheduled to start on September 19 in the UAE and not in India.