'If we don’t make a plan, he will burn out' - Charl Langeveldt opens up on Kagiso Rabada’s workload management

South Africa were heavily criticised by the majority of cricket pundits after their early exit from the T20 World Cup in Australia. Despite being deemed as one of the favourites to finish their group on top during the Super 12 stage, the Proteas suffered a defeat at the hands of Pakistan and then lost to the Netherlands to crash out of the tournament.

Kagiso Rabada, who was expected to wreak havoc in Australia was heavily battered as he conceded runs at an economy rate of 9.43 and picked up just two wickets in the entire tournament. Just like the ODI World Cup 2019, Rabada succumbed under pressure and most importantly, his workload was once again a matter of discussion.

Cricket South Africa (CSA), on the other hand, has always provided Rabada with breaks whenever possible. The right-arm pacer played just five of South Africa’s 12 ODI matches (in 2022), has missed 18 T20Is overall and two Tests against Bangladesh in 2022 thus far.

Despite that, his workload management remains to be an issue as the 27-year-old along with South Africa's white-ball skipper Temba Bavuma were the only cricketers who were allowed not to feature in the domestic Four-Day series.

Amidst all this, South Africa bowling coach Charl Langerveldt too has spoken about the importance of giving Rabada the necessary break. Even the 47-year-old believes that the team management should give Rabada some break else the pacer will burn out.

“He is now 27, and he is not a robot. If we don’t make a plan, he will burn out,” he said. “KG (Kagiso Rabada) is a very proud player. He hates losing. And the T20 World Cup defeats hurt him. He sets very high standards, and he bowls an incredible amount of balls in the nets,” said Langerveldt ahead of South Africa’s tour to Australia.

I’m not one to make any excuses, I wasn’t up to scratch: Kagiso Rabada’s honest admission after T20 World Cup disaster

Kagiso Rabada is very well aware of his performance in the T20 World Cup and acknowledged it before flying to Australia for three Tests. The pacer expressed his disappointment about the tournament and stated the reason behind his failure.

“I’m not one to make any excuses, I wasn’t up to scratch. I had a disappointing tournament, but I guess it is what it is. I didn’t feel that great in terms of energy. I still tried my best, it just felt that the harder I tried, it just wasn’t really coming out. But you have to work with what you have and find a way. It’s not a real excuse, but it is the way I felt,” said the 27-year-old.