Young South African pacer –Kagiso Rabada, on Friday, warned India to be prepared for another misery after having lost the Mahatma Gandhi- Nelson Mandela series, as the hosts are aiming to get a whitewash with the Johannesburg Test.
After thrashing India in the last two Tests, South Africa wants to make a clean sweep by winning the third and the final Test, starting on 24 January at The Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.
According to a report in PTI, Kagiso Rabada told reporters ahead of the final encounter at a promotional event, “Obviously we know how to play fast bowling and we’ve got respect for their attack. Every game you go into, you want to win. So obviously we want to get a whitewash against India.”
Like Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis, Rabada also felt that India are too reliant on Virat Kohli, saying, “I think they do rely on him. But it is just like we rely on a couple of players too. I’m not saying India don’t have any quality players, they do. But it’s just a fact – Kohli scores most of their runs. It is really enjoyable bowling to the likes of him. He was named ICC Player of the Year (sic), so it’s quite cool to go up against the best.”
On being asked about India’s lack of preparation going into the Freedom Series, Rabada replied, “I don’t know what’s going on in their preparation. That’s not something we want to look at really. We’ve got no concern with their preparation. We’re concerned with how we want to get them out and how we want to win against them. I’m not going to diagnose their problems.”
The fast bowler also admitted that playing against the Indians is extremely challenging, as they are known for their great batsmen and they’ve got really good bowlers as well. He further added, “So they are very competitive, they’re throwing everything they have at us, and their batsmen want to make a statement. They’ve made a statement everywhere else in the world, and they wanted to come here and really beat us. So things are going to get a bit messy out there. But that’s just the nature of it, with two quality sides coming against each other. Off the field, we’re friends.”
Commenting on AB de Villiers’ match-winning knocks in Cape Town and Centurion, Rabada signed off by saying, “AB is a genius at his craft. It’s a fact. He stays in on difficult wickets, but he’s striking at 70 or 80 – he makes it look easy. “He’s got a real understanding of the game, which a lot of people don’t get that easily. It looks very simple to him. He’s a very crucial player in our team.”
