South Africa and Gujarat Titans (GT) pacer Kagiso Rabada reacted to the chatter of the first 300 total being achieved in this year’s IPL, and most of it is due to the way Sunrisers Hyderabad have been going about their business.
SRH needed 44 runs off the last 2 overs to reach the milestone against RR with Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan at the crease. However, they ended with 286/6 in 20 overs, their and the second highest team total in IPL ever.
Reacting to this, Rabada talked about the importance of maintaining a balance between bat and ball.
Rabada was asked about the possibility of 300 being scored in this IPL, and he told Indian Express: “The game has to progress somehow, but I don’t think it can just get too flat, like every single game. It would take the fun out of it. You know, then you might as well call our sport Batting, and not Cricket. I have no issues with a few records being broken; that’s fine. High-scoring games are good, but so are low-scoring games. But you can’t have it tilting either side too dramatically, there needs to be a balance that is maintained between bat and ball.”
Rabada also revealed how he handles the pressure in high-scoring games as a bowler.
He said: “Yes, because that’s the way the game is headed. You can’t sit back and complain about the conditions. You must do something about it as a bowler. However, the game of cricket as a whole would just be boring if you just saw high scores or low scores all the time. The most exciting games are the ones that hang in the balance, requiring batters to apply themselves when wickets fall and play really well to win matches for their teams or bowlers to step up in the same manner. It shouldn’t be about just survival for either.”
He also praised the return of saliva usage on the ball and how reverse swing has returned to the game. He also said that the two new balls in ODIs has made it easy for batters to hit the ball in death overs.
“I guess so. Using saliva and sweat are two different aspects… they have different textures, though I can’t explain scientifically how it affects the ball. Let’s see how this IPL goes with saliva being used again. It’s definitely interesting,” Rabada said.
“It has made it easier for batters in the death overs. The two new balls were introduced to level the playing field in the Powerplays because of flatter wickets. I do think, especially in the last phase of the ODIs, the finishing batters back in the day had to be more skilled because of reverse swing on offer. It’s now easier for batters with two harder balls, they can just swing through the line. It’s much harder to hit a softer ball,” Rabada added.
He was asked what changes he would like to see going forward.
“It’s an interesting topic, I’ll have to think a bit more about what changes I’d like to see. I definitely do believe that, with the amount of data and analysis available these days, the playing field has leveled because teams know exactly what other players will do. That takes a bit of mystery out of the game and removes some of the natural talent as well. Sometimes, it can get quite robotic, so that does level the playing field a little. You can’t run away from it,” he said.
Rabada also stressed the importance of bowling yorkers and getting it right in white-ball cricket.
“Yeah, yorkers, if you’re executing them, are still a very effective ball to have. It’s a timeless ball to have up your sleeve. The way the batters can hit these days, with the size of the bats, it becomes a risk-and-reward situation. But, honestly, I still haven’t seen too many batters able to put away that perfect yorker, you know? It is still not easy to hit yorkers for sixes. It’s extremely important for my game as well. I keep trying to top up on it every day I am at the nets,” he added.
Rabada has played 81 games in IPL for 3 franchises and taken 118 wickets with a best of 4/21 and an economy of 8.50.
(Indian Express inputs)
