I don't know what is going to happen to Rabada after this Test, says AB de Villiers

South Africa managed to reduce the Australians to a meager total of 180 for five at the end of the second innings with a slender lead of 41 runs. The home team were trailing the Test series by a score 1-0 after they lost the opener, in Durban, to the Australians. Kagiso Rabada had a major role to play as he made a key breakthrough when he bowled left-handed batsman David Warner for 13 in an intense opening spell with his fastest delivery being clocked at 151 kmph.

However, the South African pacer is under threat of being banned for the next two matches dues to an on-field altercation with Steve Smith earlier on Day 1 in the match. AB de Villiers agreed that even he was not sure if Rabada would play in the next game or not but wanted the pacer to learn from this experience.

"He's got to be smarter and he knows that. I don't know what is going to happen to him after this Test but if he is around for the next Test match I think he would have learned from his mistakes,"

"There was a lot of emotion from that last Test match going into this one and once again as a fast bowler you want to prove things to people and you want to show everyone you belong on this stage," De Villiers said at the end of Day three.

De Villiers added that while the incident with Smith will serve as a lesson for Rabada, it was essential for the senior members of the team to talk some sense to the pacer.

"I think it's up to some of our senior guys to just help him. It's important to some of the players to get around him before he close to a batter to tell him 'you know what? I just got you out'.

"That's what it basically comes down to except with more emotion. He wants to tell him 'I just won that battle'. I would've been the same. You see me when I take a good catch and it's a big wicket ... thank goodness I'm not close to the batter because I think I'll do the same thing," De Villiers added in an interview to cricketnext.

Rabada could be suspended for the next two matches if the match referee - Jeff Crowe - opines that the pacer’s move to brush shoulders with Smith in the ongoing Test was an intentional move on his part. Rabada’s exclusion from the squad would hurt the home team’s chances of doing well in the Test series.

"I won't say we're frustrated. I can't speak for him, I just have a lot of sympathy. I'm not a bowler but I can't imagine being a bowler, having to toil out there, run in, it's hard on the body, it's hard on the mind.

"You get a breakthrough and you just want to celebrate and that's his way. Obviously, he's crossed the line a couple of times and I think he's regretting that.

"But I'm glad I'm not a bowler because I reckon I would've been worse than him. I struggled to breathe and my legs went numb. Dale (Steyn), when he's on fire, you don't even understand what's going on in that mind, you just see eyes and all sorts of stuff.

"Luckily for him he's never sort of crossed that line. But I think it's because we get to him. We'll try and get to KG before he does the damage," the batsman concluded.