Proteas spearhead has sights firmly set on upcoming Bangladesh tour

Kagiso Rabada has shouldered arms on the subjects of reverse swing and Australian cricket’s meltdown over the 2018 “Sandpaper” series, saying the latter was not important to SA.

With battle lines drawn between former teammates Down Under, SA’s role in that controversial series has virtually been forgotten. Asked his thoughts on the current climate in Australian cricket, Rabada said: “My take is that we’re not concerned about what they have to deal with. It’s not our topic to deal with. It’s obviously an Australian topic. I don’t see where we get involved in that.”

Rabada was a central figure in the 2018 series, finishing as the leading wicket-taker, claiming a 10-wicket haul in the second Test and needing legal assistance from Dali Mpofu so that he could play in the ill-fated third match at Newlands.

Rabada also wasn’t sure if reverse swing had disappeared or declined from Test cricket in the eight years since. “I haven’t paid a lot of attention to that, to be honest,” he remarked.

Asked if the art had disappeared, he said: “Not necessarily. We’ve also been playing on quite a few green tops, so the ball hasn’t had the opportunity to reverse. But I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that.”

Whether the ball is reversing less now than it was eight years ago doesn’t appear to have affected Rabada’s impact. The 157 Test wickets he took in the four-year period up to 2018 came at an average of 21.56, while the 193 wickets since have been at 22.56.

During the series decider against Australia at Newlands two weeks ago, he became the fastest bowler to reach 350 Test wickets, in terms of balls bowled. “I’m really proud of it,” he said on Friday.

That events in Australia aren’t front of mind for the Proteas is understandable given the goals they’re chasing over the remainder of the summer. The break following the series win in Cape Town has allowed players to absorb and reflect on that success, but they’re ready to move on and tackle the challenges Bangladesh will set in the next fortnight.

“Moving into this series, you can take positives away from the way we have been playing. But at the same time, you just can’t take any opposition and any series for granted,” said Rabada.

South Africa and India are the only two countries Bangladesh have failed to beat in a Test, and their record in SA is especially atrocious — eight losses in eight matches.

They’ve never played a Test at the Wanderers, and in their only Test in Gauteng, at SuperSport Park in 2008, they were trounced by an innings and 48 runs.

Still, SA is paying them due respect, highlighting that amazing victory the Tigers achieved over Australia in Darwin in August, to make sure their attention doesn’t drift.

“We’ve found ourselves on that side before where we probably get a bit too complacent. I think it’s human nature. It’s something that we have to guard against and not drop the intensity,” said Rabada.

“We’re not really thinking about the result. We’re just going to think about how we want to play. Because that’s what we’ve been doing these past two years. How we want to play, having that desperation and getting into the faces of our opponents. That’s exactly how we want to play.”

Bangladesh have not won a Test since Darwin, drawing against Afghanistan and then losing a series on home soil against the West Indies last week.

Six of their batters have made hundreds this year, with Litton Das notching up two. Last week Towhid Hridoy scored Bangladesh’s highest Test score with an unbeaten 242 against the West Indies.

“I don’t think we’re too concerned whether or not the Bangladeshi top order has been doing really well or not. It’s literally about analysing what they do and us trying to trump whatever it is that they want to do,” said Rabada.