Early in the day, Kamran Ghulam pulled out of his batting stance as Kagiso Rabada was about to enter his delivery stride, and that set the stage for a memorable duel between the two
Firdose Moonda26-Dec-2024The frustration fizzed from Kagiso Rabada like a popped cork. Kamran Ghulam had just squeezed him away for four, taking evasive action to a delivery that was angled at the hips to move to 48 and then, Ghulam had the audacity to pull out of his batting stance as Rabada was about to enter his delivery stride.It was not the first time Ghulam tried that. In the over before, he made Rabada restart his run-up and Kyle Verreynne let Ghulam know that is not how to treat one of the game’s premier fast-bowlers. “F*** off,” came Ghulam’s reply.Three Tests into a career that arguably should have started five years ago, Ghulam was relishing the challenge. And so was Rabada. By then he’d beaten Ghulam four times, tested his ability to leave on length and aimed at his body and watched as Ghulam wondered whether to get out of the way or take it on. Rabada ran in again, fuming, and delivered it full. Ghulam came forward defending and decided not to try and take the run.Related
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Bring it, he dared Rabada. You’re on, was the response.The next ball was a question laced with danger. It asked Ghulam to play, he half-did, but got squared up and beaten. Rabada stood, three-quarters of the way down the pitch, with a double tea-pot and face like thunder. He stared at Ghulam. The SuperSport Park, back from a boozy lunch, egged Rabada on.Of course, the bouncer had to come next. Ghulam duly ducked under to the ooohs and aaaahs of those with bloodlust. And then another. As the last delivery of the over loomed, there was a sense that whichever KG won that ball, would take a big step to making a decisive statement on the match.Rabada’s coup de grace was a full ball that moved away. Ghulam could not resist a waft and only got a thick outside edge. Marco Jansen, at gully, had a millisecond to jump to his right and end the battle. He got his hands to the ball but could not get his fingers around it. It bobbled away as Ghulam ran the two that brought up his fifty. Rabada was down on his haunches, puffing, but that was only a pause. He had more in the tank.Rabada’s sixth over post-lunch was delivered mostly to Mohammad Rizwan. He had one ball at Ghulam, who left well. And there was enough in Rabada for one more, especially as Ghulam was facing. Rabada started off short, and Ghulam whacked tennis-style towards mid-on. The ball was aerial for just enough time to cause some excitement but it fell well short. Ghulam was edgy and seemed to want to get away.He nudged the next ball into the on-side and called Rizwan through but was sent back. Stay there and face the music, his senior partner seemed to say. And Ghulam did. He trusted his awareness of his offstump to watch the next two balls through to Verreynne and then got himself off strike. Ghulam faced 23 balls from Rabada in total, left or defended nearly half of them and scored 13 runs. More importantly, he survived.Kamran Ghulam was out for 54 off 71•AFP/Getty ImagesRabada ended a second seven-over spell wicketless. After beating the bat almost once an over (13 times in total according to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data), the 0 in the wickets column seems like an injustice. But Rabada had vacuum-packed the pressure and it would be for Dane Paterson to hoover up the rewards.Paterson took over from Marco Jansen at the opposite end to Rabada, immediately after Rabada’s spell ended. Ghulam had barely had time to catch his breath and when Paterson started with a no-ball, he responded by charging down the track and swinging wildly at the next delivery, as though he thought it was a free hit. Fortunately for Ghulam, he missed but his concentration, it seemed, had been broken.As the over went on, Paterson played with his lengths but never veered from the line that asked Ghulam whether he still had it in him to defend. The fourth ball beat his outside edge, the fifth reared up at him and made Ghulam play and then looped off the splice short of the gully and the sixth was on middle on leg, and should have been left alone. Instead, Ghulam advanced again, swung again and sent it straight up.Who else but Rabada came charging in from fine leg? He had to make enough ground to take the catch at a short fine position and as galloped in, his eyes stayed on the prize. Rabada settled under and safely pouched it. Perhaps it was a good thing he was nowhere close to Ghulam so all he could do was spread his arms in celebration while Paterson soaked in the importance of the breakthrough.An 81-run stand had been broken and a batter that South Africa have already seen take a game away from them was dismissed. Exactly a week ago, in Cape Town, Ghulam hit an audacious 32-ball 63 which propelled Pakistan to 329 in the second ODI. They won the match by 81 runs and with it the series. This time, Ghulam’s dismissal sparked a collapse of 5 for 52 that left Pakistan in danger of not getting to 200. Rabada took none of those wickets but he was the one who popped the cork. Just ask Ghulam.
