“Winning the T20 World Cup would be my biggest accomplishment” – Rabada

Kagiso Rabada, the lethal right-arm pacer, said winning the T20 World Cup in UAE would be “one of the highest achievements in cricket” by South Africa.

“That would be extremely special,” he said on Monday. “Hundred per cent – It would be my biggest life achievement in sports, that’s what it would be. That would also be one of the highest achievements in cricket, that’s what is missing. It would be the icing on the cake. We hope we are the generation that can bring it [the trophy home].”

In the six T20 World Cups, South Africa finished twice as semi-finalists – in 2009 and 2014 – and failed to advance to the knockout stages four times. Rabada acknowledges his team’s history with ICC events but he preferred not to dwell on it too much.

“I don’t even actually like to talk about that [baggage] and what’s happened in the past, happened in the past,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about it too much, we have a challenge in front of us. No one in the past tried to lose games. We are coming in with the same mentality, whether we have baggage or not. I just think it’s not worth talking about, it’s just worth playing.”

South Africa enter this tournament with winning momentum. They recently defeated West Indies, Sri Lanka and Ireland. But they are still a team in transition and will be looking up to players like Rabada to take up a leadership role and help them deal with the pressure that comes with playing in a World Cup.

“I guess, it’s something that I have to do,” he said. “It is not something that I am desperate to do. But it is something I am eager to do when there is a need for it.”

Rabada is familiar with the feeling of being a world champion. He was part of the South Africa side that claimed the Under-19 crown in the UAE in 2014. Back at the scene of that triumph, he hopes to have similar success with a group of players who “want to express to the world how good they are.”

“It feels great,” Rabada said. “Obviously, there are a lot of good memories from the U-19 World Cup. It would be great to replicate that with the senior team.”

South Africa begin their T20 World Cup campaign with a warm-up game against Afghanistan on October 18, the same day their Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings resume back home. The first round featured testimony from several former players, coaches and administrators about their experiences of racial discrimination. The next two weeks will see those who were negatively implicated respond to the allegations.

Avishkar Govardhane