South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan batsman Imran Butt
South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan batsman Imran Butt Image Credit: AP

Karachi: South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada credits “hard and relentless work” which helped him become the third fastest bowler to reach 200 Test wickets. Rabada has taken 8,154 deliveries which made him the third fastest to the milestone behind Waqar Younis (7,725) and Dale Steyn (7,848).

“It’s a massive feat to be included among a list of such names. When you start playing you don’t ever think you will be on such a list and have such statistics,” Rabada said. “I don’t think there is a magic answer. It’s just hard work and spending time on your craft and seeing where you can get better and analysing it. It hasn’t all been easy.”

Rabada was the top-ranked Test bowler in the world in January 2018 and is currently sixth on the International Cricket Council’s rankings. He reached 200 wickets during the third day of South Africa’s first Test against Pakistan in Karachi.

“You find yourself trying to perfect something that might seem so simple but it’s constant repetition and hours and hours of work. It’s being relentless with that and trying to see how much better you can get and finding ways. It’s hard and relentless work,” he said.