Kagiso Rabada departs for South Africa amid IPL 2025

Gujarat Titans’ right-arm pacer Kagiso Rabada left for South Africa during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 due to personal reasons.

According to the IPL franchise, the South African pacer left due to an ‘important personal reason’ and did not provide any update on his return.

“Kagiso Rabada has returned to South Africa to deal with an important personal matter,” the Titans announced in a statement.

The 29-year-old represented the Titans in two matches in the recently-commenced edition of the cash-rich league, taking one wicket for 41 runs in their defeat against Punjab Kings and one for 43 in their 36-run victory over Mumbai Indians.

Rabada did not feature in the Titans’ third match of the season against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and his absence was accredited to personal reasons.

The former champions replaced him with Arshad Khan, who made an immediate impact by dismissing batting stalwart Virat Kohli.

The Titans fielded only three overseas players – Jos Buttler, Rashid Khan and Sherfane Rutherford, who came in as the Impact Player for the run chase.

The absence of an overseas player did not bother the 2022 champions as they secured a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over the RCB, inspired by Mohammed Siraj and Buttler.

Titans’ other overseas options are New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips and South Africa’s Gerald Coetzee, who are yet to play a match in the ongoing IPL edition, while the latter’s fitness also remains a concern.

Gujarat Titans are currently fourth in the IPL 2025 standings with four points in three matches. They next face 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in an away fixture on Sunday.