You cannot always be at the top, opines Kagiso Rabada

Kagiso Rabada was once renowned as the best upcoming fast bowler in the world and incidents of him wreaking havoc among the opposition batting lineup used to be a frequent headline. However, of late, he has been kept away from the spotlight even though he has continued his good form. He is 2019’s fourth-highest wicket-taker but his team’s underwhelming performances combined with the rise of other exciting prospects have suppressed his brilliant performances.

"It's never easy maintaining a career; I've learned that there are a lot of ups and downs. I want to be the best in the world, everybody does. You are naturally going to compete in that fashion, I'm not too worried, I'm feeling nice and easy. I'm disappointed, not angry [about the World Cup]. What do I do with anger? When a setback comes you want to be determined, you don't want to change a lot of things. It's about seeing where you went wrong and then putting in extra work," the 24-year-old told iol.co.za, reported ESPNCricinfo.

Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer have been getting all the attention of late, but that only motivates Rabada to up the ante and improve his skills.

"I admire those bowlers, they are good bowlers. However, the media hypes certain players, and that's OK; I know I have been playing very well. Archer is such a natural talent; Bumrah is doing wonders and that can force you to lift your game. You are not always at the top, that's one thing I can tell you," Rabada stated.

He has 318 wickets to his name across the three formats at an average below 25 and has in the past been on top of both the ODI and Test rankings for bowlers. His next challenge will, however, be a steep one for a tour to India means the conditions won’t be offering much to him and he’ll have to rely on his natural skills.

"You need to figure out what you need to do to give the team a better chance to win that is what I try to focus on. When you have played there before you will have an idea of what to do in certain tough situations,” he said.

With Dale Steyn retired, he will have the responsibility of spearheading the pace attack across all three formats. The last time the Proteas had come to India, they had lost the Tests 3-0 but will be looking to do better this time around in three ODIs and Tests, which will also mark the advent of their World Test Championship campaign.

"The previous tour we were successful because we won the T20 and ODI series but the Test series was a bit of a shambles because those wickets were just terrible. If I could give an example the first Test match it was 200 v 200 in first innings. If we batted first it was going to be a different ball game because we ended up having to chase the game. We lost 3-0 and we were truly hammered," Rabada signed off.