Kagiso Rabada has been ineffective in recent few IPL seasons.
Gujarat Titans (GT) pacer Kagiso Rabada has consistently been below-par across T20s, especially in IPL, where flat surfaces and no seam movement have made his life arduous. He often bowls erratic lengths and ends up being expensive, as was the chase against Punjab Kings (PBKS) last night, where he conceded 34 runs at an economy rate of 11.33 and took a solitary wicket.
Since 2024, Rabada has mostly been picked on reputation, with little to no performance to show in the IPL. He has just 14 wickets at 40.57 runs apiece and an economy rate of 9.62 in this period, conceding more than 10 runs per over in 56.25% of his total innings.
In a show with ESPNcricinfo, former Proteas pacer Dale Steyn explained that South Africa collectively shifted to bowling more back-of-a-length deliveries during a period, which took away Kagiso Rabada’s yorker accuracy. Hence, he ends up bowling low full-tosses or half-volleys, which are hit down the ground on out-and-out flat surfaces, and he ends up becoming a one-trick pony.
“He had a fantastic yorker, and then there was a season or period where the South African bowling line-up kind of went back of a length and crossed the seam, and I think that’s where he kind of lost that yorker a little bit, whereas Marco doesn’t bowl a lot of yorkers, he uses a lot more variation. KG has been searching for that yorker, and I think he’s just missed it a little bit. He’s missed low full-tosses, and he’s been hit out of the ground.”
Dale Steyn rightly pointed out Kagiso Rabada’s lack of yorkers in recent IPL seasons, which also has a role in his poor control over them. Since IPL 2024, he has attempted yorkers only 9.51% of the time and nailed them on only 25.71% of those deliveries.
ALSO READ:
The yorkers have gone for 4.50 runs per over, while other missed yorkers have collectively reaped 9.60 runs per over. Rabada has heavily relied on shorter-length deliveries in this phase, bowling 38.25% of back-of-a-length and short balls at an economy rate of 8.84 in this period.
Even in the recent T20 World Cup 2026, Kagiso Rabada could nail his yorkers only 33.33% of the time and ended up bowling a lot of full-tosses and fuller-length deliveries, which went for 13.05 runs per over. South African pacers overhauled their approach a few years back, as Steyn revealed, so now whenever Rabada tries to execute yorkers, the accuracy remains low due to a loss of muscle memory.
In IPL, shorter-length deliveries work only when they are mixed well with other lengths and variations throughout the spell, as it allows bowlers to remain unpredictable. Rabada will need to bring that accuracy back, which fetched him ample success and wickets in the 2020 season, before going out of favour altogether.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
