CAPE TOWN: Former South African pacer Allan Donald feels the cricketing fraternity must enjoy watching KG Rabada more while they can, especially at a time when franchise leagues are dominating the calendar.
Rabada, one of the top all-format bowlers in the world, has already carved a place for himself in the list of fast bowling legends from the Rainbow Nation. The 30-year-old has already joined the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins in terms of leaving behind a legacy.
At a time when the landscape of the sport is changing exponentially with T20 leagues around the globe, Donald feels that being an all-format bowler going forward will be a challenge. He took the example of Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf playing franchise leagues and not Test cricket. ”Are we going to see that a lot more? Players need to look after not only their mental health, but also physical. And that's probably why a guy like Rauf has decided 'enough's enough. I'm going to need to look after my body'. So it's sad in a way. I think we'll see it (more). We must enjoy KG Rabada while we still can. We really do. We saw Nqobani Mokoena here and he's the next in line. But I think probably we will see a little bit more of that (T20 cricket),” Donald said on the sidelines of the SA20 game between Paarl Royals and Pretoria Capitals.
The former pacer explained the challenges of switching formats for bowlers. “We are up from four-day stuff. It's a different mindset, it's a different load in overs, then, all of a sudden, you hit T20 again in a completely different mindset back into 50-over stuff. Players do it worldwide now. It's who do you have in your dressing room to look after and it's also a mental and a skill switch. It's never easy. We only played Test match cricket and 50-over cricket and it was an easy adaptation. But to come from just hopping around and going from one league to another league back into a Test series, it's not an easy thing to do,” said Donald.
The Proteas legend joked that he is thankful about retiring without having to bowl in T20s on Indian pitches. He felt South Africa have a good team to go all the way in the upcoming T20 World Cup. “It's going to be a heck of a tournament, isn't it? I know South Africa picked a very strong squad. There might always be question marks about who's not going and who should have gone but I think South Africa's got a very good team. I think India have got the best T20 wickets on the planet. I think it's just so hard for any bowler and I've seen it in the IPL. I mean, who scores 124 in a power play? I'm just glad I'm retired and commenting on it every now and again. That's just where the skill of batting has gone. If you can win the inches from a bowling point of view and plot your way very carefully and smartly, I think it's going to come down to that again. I hope to see South Africa hopefully, in the final as well,” he signed off.