Kagiso Rabada celebrates in South Africa’s match against New Zealand in the World Cup (Reuters Photo)South Africa’s World Cup campaign came to a grinding halt after the defeat to Pakistan on Sunday. Without the services of their star bowler, Kagiso Rabada, the Proteas found it hard to stop the opposition batsmen as Pakistan put more than 300 on the scoreboard.
After the match, du Plessis was asked if he felt Rabada’s workload had been managed well to which he replied that the South Africa team management had tried to stop Rabada from going to this year’s IPL, where he eventually injured his back and was withdrawn towards the end.
“I don’t think we’ll ever have a perfect answer for that because he’s probably biting on too much,” du Plessis said. “But we did try and get him not to go to the IPL; to try and stay and get fresh. That wasn’t the case of [course] and then when he went there, we were like, let’s try and get him back halfway through the IPL because it’s important, not just for him, but a few other players.
“I mean, I spoke about it before the IPL 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 IPL. So I don’t think it’s necessarily just the IPL, but it was important for a few guys to rest; and the fact that they didn’t meant that they came into the tournament not fresh. That’s not an excuse; that’s just a fact.”
Rabada was expected to be the leader of South Africa’s beleaguered pace attack. But in six outings at the World Cup so far, he has returned with only six wickets at an average of 50.83. Even on Sunday, Du Plessis summoned talisman Rabada to burst open the middle order but Sohail instead drove him to frustration with an uppercut six.
