South Africa ended a long wait for an ICC Trophy when they defeated Australia in the World Test Championship final back in June but pacer Kagiso Rabada said on Thursday that it was time to move on from that euphoria of winning the title and focus on the next task in hand. The task he was referring to was South Africa’s next three Twenty20 clashes and three one-day Internationals in a series vs Australia, starting on Sunday.
“I think it was special, and I’ve done so many interviews on that since. I think it’s time to move on. I don’t think we’ll forget about that ever as a team, and South Africa won’t ever (forget), but time to move on now.” Rabada told a press conference.
“It was kind of like a relief. But the show moves on, and moving toward the T20 World Cup, I guess the approach will be a bit different. Now, you know, there’s no fear of anything,” he added.
Rababa, who turned 30 in May, has not played since the WTC final in London. “Thankfully, I’ve had quite a long break, so that’s been awesome. Maintenance work consistently has to be done because the volume of cricket is quite a bit,” he said.
Talking about the South Africa vs Australia rivalry, he said, “It’s always some hard cricket being played, some good cricket. Whenever we play Australia, I always feel like they get the best out of us, because they’re sort of in our faces. And I guess we like that.”
The Australia tour comes ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, and the 2027 World Cup in Southern Africa, and South Africa hope the experience will benefit the young players in their squad.
“For me that’s extremely exciting to see them raring to go. It’s just about trying to see where we’re at as a team, moving into almost like another generation,” Rabada added.
(With agency inputs)
