Proteas fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been crowned with the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Purple Cap for his efforts with the Delhi Capitals for the 2020 campaign.
The honour is bestowed upon the season’s leading wicket taker in the tournament with Rabada leading the pack with 30 wickets taken, three more than Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah, who topped the wicket taker ranking briefly before Kagiso’s last rally to obtain the top title.
Taking 30 wickets in 17 matches, Rabada was in fine form, setting a Delhi Capitals record in the process.
Recently, the prolific fast bowler received a national call up to join the 24-man Proteas squad that will face off with England in one of three T20 matches that will kick off on home soil later this month.
Rabada’s fellow cricketer KL Rahul, managed to secure the Orange Cap, given to the leading run-scorer of the IPL season.
Here are a few interesting facts about Rabada:
- When Rabada is not knocking wickets down, he has a fine ear for music. He regularly produces and creates music in his downtime, has worked with Da Capo in the Red Bull Studios and can occasionally be caught DJing at events. Rabada accredits his love of music to his upbringing & home environment with dad, Dr Mpho Rabada and brother Atlegang, being musically astute as well.
- Bursting onto the cricket scene during the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2014, Rabada quickly rose up the ranks and was offered a contract by local outfit, the Highveld Lions soon after the tournament concluded, wrapping it up as his team’s leading wicket taker.
- Rabada made his One Day International debut against Bangladesh on 10 July 2015.
- In July 2016, he became the first cricketer to win six awards at Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) annual dinner, including Cricketer of the Year.
- By January 2018, he had topped both the ICC ODI bowler rankings and the ICC Test bowler rankings aged then only 22. That same year he became the youngest bowler to take 150 wickets in Tests (23 years and 50 days) and mirrored his 2016 feat of six awards at CSA’s annual dinner, including Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer and ODI Cricketer of the Year.
- In July 2018 during the first test against Sri Lanka, Rabada surpassed the record of Harbhajan Singh to become the youngest ever bowler to take 150 wickets in Test cricket and also became the third fastest South African to reach 150 test wickets in terms of matches.
- Rabada co-hosts The Viral Wellness with high school friend Cameron Scott. Created through South Africa’s lockdown in 2020, the current affairs podcast touches on topics that revolve around health, economics and mental wellbeing.
