IND v SA, 1st ODI: Playing in the IPL helps with easy passing of information on Indian players, says Rabada

Lucknow, Oct 6 (IANS) South Africa pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada believes that playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) becomes beneficial for touring teams in the future as information about the Indian players gets easily passed on during the T20 extravaganza.

Indian fans first took notice of Rabada as a youngster when he defended 11 runs in the final over against MS Dhoni in the ODI at Kanpur in October 2015, where South Africa won the series 3-2.

Over the years, Rabada has grown to be a favorite with the Indian fans through his IPL stints with Delhi Capitals and more recently, Punjab Kings. Overall, Rabada has picked 99 wickets in 63 matches in the IPL.

“It is something we have prepared before going into the series. Luckily enough with leagues like the IPL, we play a lot with these players and against them as well, so information can be easily passed around these days. But yes, analysis has been done and it has to be done,” said Rabada to broadcasters ahead of the first ODI.

Asked about the differences in preparing for T20 and ODI matches, Rabada explained, “I think T20 cricket and One-Day cricket are kind of similar, it is just a longer version of it. You generally like to have similar gameplans and obviously, it is a bit less pressure than in T20 cricket, I would say the processes are pretty similar.”

With rain causing a delay in the toss and start of the first ODI in Lucknow, Rabada signed off by hoping that play happens. “I guess it comes down to the cliche, ‘control what we can control’. Unfortunately, the rain is around and we can’t do much about it, hopefully, we can get on to play.”

–IANS

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