South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, second left, celebrates the wicket of India’s Ambati Rayudu during their second Twenty20 cricket match in Cuttack on Monday. (Source: AP) South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, second left, celebrates the wicket of India’s Ambati Rayudu during their second Twenty20 cricket match in Cuttack on Monday. (Source: AP)

Kagiso Rabada’s current status is that of South Africa’s newest aggressive tearaway, a son to conscientious parents and a Jo’burg boy with big dreams declaring he wants to grow up to be a ‘great man who is respected.’ Father Dr Rabada’s WhatsApp tagline, meanwhile, reads like a gentle life-message for his cricketer son, who is being primed to become a hero of black townships even while underlining the need to stay grounded, finds Sriram Veera.

Kagiso Rabada, the 20-year old pace bowler from South Africa, had just been walloped for two sixes in three balls by Rohit Sharma in the first Twenty20 international at Dharamsala. Kagiso hurls the next one faster and shorter, and it rushes past a surprised Sharma who is beaten for pace on a dead track. Kagiso takes couple of steps forward and says something to Sharma, who is enraged enough to start waving his hands and say something back as well. The Dharamsala night was getting hotter.

Back in Johannesburg, Florence, who works for the South African government as a director of asset-management, was getting excited. A touch worried as well. “Why is he talking to the batsman? Why? What did he say? Why?” Sitting beside her was her husband and father of Kagiso, Dr Rabada who turned to Florence and said, “He is just chirping, no foul language, just trying out something.” In his mind, ran a internal monologue: “Now, just focus on your bowling, no need to chirp away”. The parents watched as Kagiso banged in a bouncer next ball and both eased a bit as the over came to an end.

Elsewhere, in a house in the province of Transvaal, Ray Jennings, an old-school tough coach who had coached Kagiso in the Under-19 World Cup a year ago, allowed himself a smile as he watched the moment. It was also the first real sighting of Kagiso for the Indian fans who would be impressed by the young man’s pace, accuracy, chutzpah, and controlled aggression in the second game as well. To all and sundry, it seemed that this boy was the real deal, here to stay in the game for the long haul.

“I am just humbled by all the good words about him,” Dr Rabada says. “It’s a very proud moment for the entire family, my brothers, sisters and also for our people – the South Africans.” The doctor’s Whatapp status reads: ‘#LiveLoveLearnLeap’ and that’s all, it seems, he wants his son to do.

Privileged life

It’s been a difficult life for Dr Rabada, when he was growing up. His father couldn’t afford any luxuries, and he is a self-made man. It’s been a life of privilege for his son Kagiso, with his parents reaching a stage in their life where money was never a concern. South Africa, though, is a complicated country beset by the problems of race, and equitable development for all still remains the chief concern. At the end of the emotional chat, the father said if there is one thing he wanted to tell his son, it would be this: “When you play for the country, you are playing for all the races. You should play for the people who have never heard about cricket.

You are playing for each and every citizen of South Africa. It doesn’t matter if someone is racist, it doesn’t make you one. It’s not an equal and opposite reaction. When you are playing for country, you are playing for everyone. You are playing to inspire a nation. You are playing because you are one of the best and can be better than anyone. You are playing because you love this game,” he says, his voice almost choking up. “I know my son, he will do good. He will be an inspiration.”

From the outside it seems a lot of pressure on a young kid but it’s been a theme growing up in the household of Rabadas, a process of sensitization, of maturity, of understanding the reality of life, and development of a personality. Back when he was just around nine, Kagiso would accompany his father to the impoverished black neighbourhoods. The boy, who loved his meat and fish, would struggle to understand the poverty and the hardships and was moved enough to start gifting shoes and clothes to the kids. As he grew up, they didn’t have to say much about the need to be compassionate. “He had understood it early. It was important to make him realise that he has a privileged life and it isn’t the same for most others.”

All that the parents wanted was for their son, who was always running or doing something energetic as a kid, was to pursue something he loved. As he grew up, he dabbled in all kinds of sports and was also a keen student of dramatics at the school. Many a day, he would walk in for cricket training after a session with the drama teacher. As he moved through the age-group tournaments, around when he was 16 years, it became clear to the father that his son was special enough to play cricket for the country.

Alma mater

It was at the St Stithian’s boys college, one of the leading schools in the country situated at the Jo’burg suburb of Sandton, that Kagiso went to school and where his cricket began to take shape. It’s where Wim Jansen, the director of cricket at the college, first saw a 13-year old Kagiso. In the next two years, Jansen would see Kagiso try out a lot of sports and only then, did his cricket start developing. As the years went by, Jansen was impressed by the boy’s dedication and character. “Even then, he was a very well disciplined kid; not like your usual teenagers. A health nut. eats right, doesn’t gorge on fast food or gulp coke like other kids — perhaps his doctor father’s influence. He had an exceptionally strong physique and stood out from other boys of his age. In fact I would wager that he is unlikely to ever get injured. He spends every day at gym and the college’s strength and conditioning coach Rodney Anthony has worked a lot with him.”

The young teenager had started to earn a reputation for scaring opposition batsmen with his pace. The school ground, there is something called a cricket walk-way. Every time, someone in the senior team picks up a five-for or hits a hundred, his name would be engraved in a plaque on a tree lining up the cricket ground. For years, Kagiso tried his best to get his name etched on it but without any success.

Jansen tells an interesting story that reveals Kagiso’s character. “The thing is he would terrorise batsmen who feared him but it meant they would be extra careful against him. And it was the bowler at the other end who would end up taking the wickets. The thing is Kagiso never took a five-for while playing for our school team! He never had a plaque and I know that he was pretty upset about it.”

Jansen would get a call from Dubai in February 2014. It was Kagiso on the line. Watched by his young doting parents at the ground, he had just dismantled the Australian team in the semi-final of the U-19 World Cup. He accepted the congratulations from Jansen before placing a character-revealing request. “Coach, I have just taken five wickets for South Africa, can I have a tree now please?!” There now stands a tree near the scoreboard on the cricket walk-way at the school ground with a plaque for Kagiso with his figures 6 for 25.

Tough days with Jennings

Jennings, the coach during that junior World Cup, laughs when told about it. He had seen a remarkable transformation in the boy in the six months leading up to that tournament. “He wasn’t undisciplined but he was just a teenager. I remember I was really tough on him. We had played a tournament six months before that and I wasn’t quite happy. I thought he could be a lot better with his training, with his work ethic. He was a boy but I wanted him to be a man. As a coach, you know who can be pushed, who has to be handled softly. With Kagiso, who is a remarkably quick learner, I knew I could demand him to be a complete professional. We had played a tournament in India and he would tire quickly in these conditions. I just wanted him to get mentally tougher, show more aggression, be more aware of his game and be a professional basically.”

Six months later, at the start of the World Cup, Jennings was stunned to see his wishes had already come true. “He was already the leader of the team. The way he trained, the way he dressed, the way he carried himself, the way he was more serious about his game, aware of little nuances of it, and the hardwork he was willing to put in. It was sensational. I knew I had the team’s pied piper.”

There was just one trait he wanted to see if the boy had it in him. The moment came on the eve of the final against Pakistan. “I sensed we had to hit the Pakistanis with aggression. I took him aside and told him I wanted him to be aggressive. I wanted him to go hard and seize control for us. And he did it for us.” Like his school days, he had helped the other bowlers to get the wickets and South Africa went on to lift that trophy.

“And so when he had that thing with Rohit the other day, I couldn’t help but smile.”

It’s clear that Jennings, who would often jest with Kagiso over the fashion choice of his shoes, is mighty impressed. “The boy is unbelievable. He is a very good player and a respectful guy with good manners. He is neat, well-organised, hardworking, a team-man, and he knows he is going to be a role model for black South Africans. He gets it. His parents can be proud of the value system they have instilled in him and as for cricket goes, I can say that, he has the talent to play for South Africa as long as he wants. He is very street-wise, and despite his quick rise, never a primadonna, or a big head.”

For his school coach, Jansen, it’s just not about cricket. “Those kids in townships need a mentor, a hero and Kagiso is going to leave a huge impact on them.” And his parents just want their son to be a conscientious and compassionate man. “To be compassionate, to do good, to help and inspire others by being the best he can in his chosen field — what more can I as a father ask from him?”

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