A lengthy lay-off has recharged his batteries and now, South African speedster Kagiso Rabada wants to log as many overs as possible in training to make sure that he hasn't 'forgotten how to bowl' ahead of the Indian Premier League starting this month.
The Delhi Capitals pacer, who completed his quarantine on Monday, is happy to be up and running with his teammates with an aim to better the third place finish from the previous edition. Delhi will face Kings XI Punjab in their opening match on September 20.
"It feels good to be running in, and to be with some teammates as well. It is of course some old teammates and some new ones," he said after his first nets session with the franchise this season.
"I feel quite strong. I think I just need to bowl more, and make sure I haven't forgotten how to bowl (laughs). I need to keep up with the bowling practice, but otherwise I feel healthy," Rabada was quoted as saying in a media release issued by the franchise.
Speaking on the prospect of playing after having been off competition for the last five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rabada said it was a unique moment for everyone to be playing again now.
"This (situation) is quite unique, not a lot of people get to do this. We're in the middle of a desert, playing cricket – it's something that I didn't think I would ever be able to do. So it's a lot of fun also," said the Proteas pace spearhead who has so far 31 wickets from 18 IPL games.
The second-highest wicket-taker in the IPL last season, Rabada also commented on how lockdown gave him the opportunity to take a break from cricket.
"It's been a high volume of cricket in the past five years for me, but I really enjoyed the break at home. I was just chilling with my family, getting to see my friends (virtually) during lockdown. So yeah being home was the best thing," he said.
Rabada is happy with the squad composition and is confident of putting his best foot forward.
"We had a really good season, so I know that we can challenge and win this competition because we came really close last season, so mentally I guess that helps. But also, it is a new tournament so we have to start again and we've got a nice group put together, nice team," said Rabada, who has 31 wickets in his IPL career in just 18 matches.
A good start as usual will be key, the bowler reckoned.
"We have to start again and start the whole process, so hopefully we can get off to a good start but win at the end of the season – we want to be the most consistent team and win at times when we really, really need to win," he added.
