International cricket is set to return to India after the end of the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League and in the first assignment, the Men in Blue, under the leadership of KL Rahul, will take on Temba Bavuma’s South Africa in a five-match T20I series. The series will begin on June 9 in Delhi and will feature a number of star performers from the recently concluded IPL in both teams.
India rested regular skipper Rohit Sharma along with former captain Virat Kohli and premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah for the shorter-format series, but South Africa has announced a full-strength squad for the away series. So, the upcoming contest is expected to be an exciting one.
Previewing the series on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan’, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes that South Africa can use Kagiso Rabada in the T20I series in the manner in which the Men in Blue utilise Jasprit Bumrah’s services. The 37-year-old said that the star pacer who represented Punjab Kings in IPL 2022 would be the leader of the Protean pace attack considering his experience in Indian conditions.
“Absolutely, there is no second opinion (if Rabada will lead the attack) about that. His IPL has been very good. He is in form as well. He has regained the form he had lost a little. He is an extremely quality bowler. He will give you overs in the powerplay and bowl yorkers at the death. You can use him like Bumrah is used by the Indian team.”
The star of India’s win in the final of the inaugural edition of World T20 said that the 27-year-old Rabada will pose a huge challenge to the Indian batting lineup.
“He has the pace and the pitched-up deliveries that he bowls are extremely fast and you get a lot of wickets on Indian pitches if you bowl the fuller deliveries fast. So, he is a very big threat,” Irfan added.
Rabada finished as the third highest wicket-taker in the 2022 season of the IPL. He featured in 13 games for the Punjab Kings and dismissed 23 batters.
