Steyn thrilled to mentor Rabada
As the spearhead of the Proteas bowling attack, Dale Steyn is playing mentor to the hugely promising Kagiso Rabada.
|||Dale Steyn’s roles within the South African team extend far beyond being just the man who gets the ball chucked to him to deliver the opening sermon.
Away from the match itself, Steyn is a sounding board for all manner of technical gadgets, trends and cheeky spots to get away from the demands of the games. If there is a surfing spot, or a new song, he will find it.
If it was a class, he would be the cool kid, though he would do well to hide his ink-work from the teachers.
Now, though, as the spearhead in the Proteas set-up, Steyn has a new role. He is playing mentor to the rapidly emerging Kagiso Rabada as South Africa looks to continue its fine tradition of a battery of high-class fast bowlers. Rabada, to this point, has done everything and then some. Steyn, naturally, is thrilled. After all, fast bowlers love to hunt in packs.
“He’s been great! He has a very good attitude, and is always asking a lot of questions – and the right questions,” Steyn beamed about his protégé.
“He has everything he needs to be a good fast bowler. Pace, a good build, and he is quite tall, which is intimidating,” Steyn pointed out.
Already the young Rabada has given his captains an extra option at the back end of the innings. That has coincided with a change in the rules for the final 10 overs of an innings, which Steyn says has balanced the scales a lot more.
“That extra fielder out of the circle is very important,” he agreed.
Steyn cited small things, like being able to perch a man on the mid-wicket fence as protection, as having made a huge difference.
“Before, you would have to bring up your fine-leg or your third-man to protect that area. Now, you can have that man there and, suddenly, a batsman taking on that shot has to hit it for six or he is out. It is a risk.”
That “even contest” that Steyn speaks of has been won more often by South Africa in the current ODI series. Indian skipper MS Dhoni admitted that his team was still struggling to come to terms with the plans that South Africa have mapped out for the closing stages, and the pressure on the Indian leader has seldom lifted over the past two weeks.
Again, there were questions yesterday of whether or not Dhoni’s grip on his team was slipping.
“I think you have to look at who they are playing against,” Steyn observed.
“We have played pretty good cricket here. Everyone is hitting the ball sweetly, and the bowlers are landing it where we want to.
“We are executing our skills pretty well, and that can make it difficult for the opposition to stop.”
India remain one of the world’s most irresistible sides when on song, but the South Africans have made it a point to try and keep them on the back foot.
It is one of South Africa’s great strengths, their ability to pitch their tent anywhere in the world and not just compete, but thrive. - The Star