On May 25, 1995, Kagiso Rabada was born and became one of the most feared fast bowlers in modern cricket. Hailing from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Rabada has represented his country across all three formats and established himself as a match-winner with pace, aggression, and remarkable consistency. 

Rabada first burst onto the international scene in limited-overs cricket in 2014 before making his Test debut in 2015. His rise was rapid, and by 2018 he had achieved a rare feat by topping both the ICC ODI and Test bowling rankings at the age of just 22. In the same year, he also became the youngest bowler to claim 150 wickets in Test cricket, underlining his extraordinary impact at an early stage of his career.

One of the defining moments of his journey came in 2016 when he became the first cricketer to win six awards at Cricket South Africa’s annual awards ceremony, including the prestigious Cricketer of the Year honour. Rabada also belongs to an elite group of bowlers to have taken hat-tricks in two international formats, ODIs and T20Is. 

The speedster made his domestic debut in the CSA Provincial One-Day Competition against Border in 2013. His T20I debut came against Australia in 2014, while his ODI debut arrived against Bangladesh in 2015. Rabada announced himself in spectacular fashion in the 50-over format by registering figures of 6/16 on debut, which remain among the best ODI debut bowling figures in history. 

Rabada made his Test debut against India national cricket team in 2015. During England’s 2015-16 tour of South Africa, he produced one of the greatest performances by a South African pacer in the fourth Test by taking 13 wickets for 144 runs. The spell helped South Africa secure victory and also made Rabada the youngest South African to record a ten-wicket haul in a Test match. 

His dominance continued in 2016 at Centurion against England cricket team, where he again picked up 13 wickets in the match, including two five-wicket hauls. His innings figures of 7/112 remain among the finest spells of his Test career. 

In 2017, Rabada’s brilliant spell of 4/39 against England in an ODI helped him become the world’s top-ranked ODI bowler, replacing fellow South African Imran Tahir. At 22, he became the youngest player to top the ODI rankings since Saqlain Mushtaq in 1998. 

During India’s tour of South Africa in 2018 at Newlands, Rabada’s match figures of 5 wickets helped him rise to the No.1 spot in the ICC Test bowling rankings, overtaking James Anderson. Later that year, his sensational 11-wicket haul against Australia pushed his rating to 902 points, making him only the fourth South African bowler after Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock and Dale Steyn to cross the 900-point mark in Test rankings. 

Rabada was also part of the South African side that won the 2025 ICC World Test Championship final, marking the country’s second ICC title. In 2024, he was named in South Africa’s squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and later claimed his 300th Test wicket against Bangladesh in October 2024. 

In April 2025, Rabada faced a setback after receiving a provisional suspension following a positive test for a recreational drug. He admitted the offence and served a reduced one-month ban after successfully completing a substance abuse treatment programme. Despite the controversy, Rabada remains one of South Africa’s greatest modern-day fast bowlers. 

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