T20 World Cup 2024: Rabada Foresees Competitive Super Eight Scores

Kingstown (St Vincent), June 14 (PTI): South African pacer Kagiso Rabada anticipates "competitive scores" in the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup, attributing this to the more consistent nature of West Indian pitches compared to the drop-in decks used in the US leg of the tournament.

The 22-yard strip in New York caused a stir due to its excessive and varied bounce, making run-scoring difficult. Now, the Super Eight matches will be held exclusively at Caribbean venues.

"I do expect that conditions are going to level up because you had the drop-in pitches in the USA. You never really know how they're going to play," said Rabada on the eve of South Africa's final Group D match against Nepal.

"Now, you've actually got squares that have been there for years, here in these venues. And you'll probably see more competitive scores," he added.

Rabada emphasized the importance of balanced playing surfaces to ensure an equal contest between bat and ball.

"You want to get a game and find pitches where you have enough in it for the bowlers and enough in it for the batters. That's essentially what a cricket game is. Otherwise, you might as well just call it batting or you might as well call it bowling," he explained.

The 29-year-old cited the example of the match between Australia and England at Barbados on June 8 to underline his point.

"You look at the game between Australia and England, where 200 played 150. So, if you bat well in these conditions, you can still reach 200," he said.

Rabada also expressed hope that South Africa's batting unit, featuring power-hitters like Heinrich Klaasen and Tristan Stubbs, would regain its form in the Super Eight after struggling in the group phase.

"You can't really judge their form on wickets that we've just played on. As much as it's not an excuse, common sense would prevail. But in saying that, no one's got any demons.

"Everyone's moving forward. We play the conditions as we see them. And on our day, we know the sky's a limit in terms of batting," he elaborated.

Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane is set to play against the Proteas after arriving in St Vincent following his acquittal from a rape case that had previously denied him a US visa.

The ICC has approved him as a late addition to Nepal's World Cup squad. Rabada acknowledged that facing a "mystery spinner" like Lamichhane would be challenging for his team.

"Yeah, he's a mystery spinner, so any mystery spinner is going to be tough to play. But I know the guys are really looking forward to facing that challenge," he added.