ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 2, 2021

Kagiso Rabada

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

South Africa

Post Match Media Conference

Q. After a performance like that, just how does the team feel, and in the fact going into a virtual quarterfinal against England on Saturday, considering the way the tournament has gone and the fact that it now comes down to one game and you're in the playoffs?

KAGISO RABADA: Yeah, it feels great. We've been -- obviously been winning, so it's just about taking it one game at a time and not thinking too far ahead.

What we've shown is that we've had different individuals stand up in different games, and I think that's been the key. We're performing as a team. Yeah, we're just really chuffed about today, but I'm certainly not going to think about cricket tomorrow until we have to train again, but when the time comes, we will regroup and then strategize for England, and it's going to be a good game.

Q. Just on your own personal performance, how good is it for you to put in a performance with the ball today?

KAGISO RABADA: It feels great. Wherever I can contribute to the team's success, I will take it, even if I'm not taking wickets. But on a personal note, it feels good to take wickets, especially up front in the powerplay, making inroads. That's what I've always strived to do.

Yeah, every day we put in work, and what we've come to learn or what I've come to learn about the game is you work so hard, sometimes it doesn't go for you, but if you keep working, more often than not it'll go for you. Back to training.

Q. Just wanted to get a sense from you, I know it's different formats that you guys are playing compared to the last World Cup, but how much of a psychological factor was it knowing that the performance against Bangladesh in 2019 didn't go according to plan when you guys came into today?

KAGISO RABADA: We weren't thinking about that. That's in the past. There's no reason to think about that. This is a completely new day, so I certainly was not thinking about it.

In saying that, I think it's a World Cup stage, and every team is hungry to win, so you cannot take any game for granted.

Q. Kagi, we often speak about the mood in the camp; what was the mood like out on the field and the pitch when you guys had them rattled at 3 for 20-odd early in the innings?

KAGISO RABADA: Well, we knew we had got to a good start. You could sort of sense it in us as a team. Yeah, but I think it was crucial for us not to take the foot off the pedal, and every bowler that came on made sure they stuck to the game plan, and I think that got us to get into an even more powerful position. There's always things to look at and address, but all in all, we can't not be happy with that performance. Everything that we train for and plan for, it came off for us.

Q. Before this game, the stats showed that you were taking a lot more wickets in the UAE outside of the powerplay than in the powerplay; how would you explain that? Was something different about today compared to the previous times you've played there?

KAGISO RABADA: Yeah, well, I bowled three overs up front, and there was a bit of bounce, a bit of seam movement and some swing. I guess the conditions were in my favour. All I had to do was get the ball in the right area.

Mostly how I've been used, I don't mind the way that I'm used, I just try and make an impact wherever I'm asked to bowl, and in the past I guess I was asked to bowl more in the middle overs, in the middle stages, so I had to find a way there, whereas now I'm bowling a lot more in the powerplay, so I have to find a way in the powerplay.

I guess different captains use me at different times. I know that I have to bowl -- I can bowl in any phase of the game, and I'll be expected to bowl in any phase of the game, so wherever I do bowl, I just try and make the most out of it and try and make an impact in that particular phase.

Q. You guys have had three tight games the first three games, and today's one was a little more one-sided. Is that just about the perfect way to bowl up to a mega match like you have on Saturday, or would you have preferred another tight game today?

KAGISO RABADA: No, I do not prefer a tight game at all. It's too much stress (chuckling). But that's the game of cricket, and we're on the big stage in the World Cup, so anything can happen.

But yeah, we're glad that we won convincingly today. We knew that every game was going to be tough. Every game requires so much intensity. Everyone is bringing the intensity. It's hard work. The amount of focus that you have to show, resilience, thinking on the spot, it takes a lot out of you.

I guess the next game is a new game. I guess we can take confidence out of our team performances as a collective heading into the England game. We know it's going to be a very tough game.

That's an interesting question, but I think we just have to come up with our game plan that we see as the most effective to win against England and do our best to implement it. We know it's going to be tough.

Q. Did you guys expect the pitch to provide you guys with as much assistance as it did? You guys seemed to be pretty spot-on with your lengths right from the start.

KAGISO RABADA: Yeah, obviously there was a lot of grass on that wicket, and also judging on the game that we played against Australia, there was a bit of zip and was a bit two-paced, as well. Noticing from the warmup there was a bit of swing and there was a fresh wicket. You never really know how a wicket is going to play, but we had an idea that it actually could favour the seamers. At the end of the day you just have to see what the wicket is doing, and we saw what it was doing, and we bowled accordingly.

Q. Speaking about the seamers, yourself and Anrich and Dwaine are bowling quite a nice seam bowling partnership there. How do your roles differ from each other?

KAGISO RABADA: Well, I guess myself and Anrich are quite similar. Anrich is bowling pretty rapid at the moment. Guys are coming with questions that make you really think.

I think every bowler in the team has their own plans, and some bowlers will have similar plans, so like I guess myself and Anrich will have similar plans, but at the same time we're also unique.

I think everyone brings something different. We have set a standard in the team that if I would not be able to play or Anrich or Dwaine, someone else can come up and fill our spots. It's just about making sure that your skill is most effective through the training of the game plans and coming up with strategies and tactics for the strategies. I think we have different bowlers, even the spinners, too. They're just unique, and that's something we're embracing.

Q. Can you speak a little bit about the captain? He gets a lot of abuse on social media for some reason, but he goes out there and he puts in performances when the team is a little bit in trouble. The field placing, the way he manages the media and all of those type of things. Can you just speak about how the team values Temba?

KAGISO RABADA: Yeah, Temba, there's nothing more I can say because the results are there. The results are there. There's nothing more to say about that.

You always have critics, and it's something that we make peace with. You can't take the good without the bad. At the end of the day I think we put ourselves under more pressure than the actual public because we are the cricketers, we are the ones who want to do well. We want to do well for ourselves more than anyone else wants us to do well. So we put more pressure on ourselves.

Whatever people have to say outside of the game, it's okay. We can't control that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. In saying that, we see a lot of value in people who actually genuinely support us.

Q. Have you guys as a group discussed a fix that net run rate could potentially have on the outcomes of the last four, and was there discussion today at halftime about the chase (indiscernible)?

KAGISO RABADA: Yeah, obviously that was the chat. We tried to finish the game as early as possible, and I think we're happy with where we finished the game. But in saying that, we just try to keep it really as simple as possible. But yeah, there was a clear instruction that we should try to finish the game -- there was a clear instruction that we needed to try and finish the game before 15, and we did that.

Q. Bangladesh have traditionally been quite weak against kind of high-quality fast bowling, but were you a bit surprised by just the lack of application showed by the top order batters today?

KAGISO RABADA: No, no, no, maybe you should ask their coaches or them, but we're just happy that we won. Yeah, we're just happy that we got -- I'm happy I got wickets. We're happy as a team that we got wickets. I don't think that's a question for me to answer.