‘Glad to have had a chance to tour Pakistan’: Kagiso Rabada

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada on Wednesday said that he is glad to have had a chance to tour Pakistan, a country that has produced many cricketing greats.

In a video shared by Cricket South Africa (CSA), the 25-year-old expressed his excitement about playing in Pakistan for the first time.

“I’m glad to say I’ve had a chance to tour Pakistan because they hold such a prestige in international cricket,” he said. “They [Pakistan] have some greats of the game who have come from these parts so it’s just nice to be in area where they have all come from.”

Rabada said that he feels ‘quite safe’ in Pakistan and appreciated Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) efforts in ensuring that. “I have a lot of faith in their security. I feel quite safe, I feel as if I can just focus on cricket,” he said.

“I think the PCB has done a great job at ensuring we are safe. Hats off to them! It’s obviously not an ideal situation, and Covid is not an ideal situation but they have made it work.”

The right-arm pacer said that he is expecting reverse swing to play a role in the first Test against the hosts at National Stadium Karachi.

“The practice squares we have been playing on have been keeping low. There's not much lateral movement, especially when the ball gets older. We're suspecting that reverse swing is going to play a role,” he said.

Rabada was excited to back as he was not part of the South Africa squad that defeated Sri Lanka at home earlier this month due to groin injury. “It’s nice to be back in full-flowing camp where you can really put some good work in gearing up for what’s going to be a hard test match,” he said.

The player added that playing Pakistan at their home is not going to be easy as they have good players. “I'm expecting Pakistan to come out fighting, that’s one thing that they do. It's going to be a Test series where we have to earn the right to win. I'd love to go back home with a trophy in the bag,” he said.

Despite not having played in the country before, the fast bowler was confident that South Africa would do well. “We know that we can beat any team in the world,” he said.

Pakistan will play South Africa for two Tests in Karachi and Rawalpindi and three Twenty20 Internationals in Lahore from January 26 to February 14.

Read: Preparing spin-friendly pitches might backfire: former chief selector 

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