Rabada remorseful of drug use but won’t think too much and be ‘Mr-I-Apologise too much’ in the coming future.
Rabada remorseful of drug use, having spoken to South Africa team-mates about the suspension.
In addition to serving a one-month sentence for admitting to testing positive for recreational drug use, Kagiso Rabada must now return to the top ranks of cricket, where he will face additional repercussions. As he gets ready for South Africa’s World Test Championship (WTC) final, he must face the media, put up with anything the opposition throws at him, and settle the score with his country’s teammates, if necessary.
“I think I owe it to them [to talk about what happened] – they’re my team-mates,” Rabada said of speaking to the squad about his suspension. “We’ve come from so far, you know, and to my closest people I owe it to them.
“Look, this is not an ideal situation. I don’t need too many pats on the back here. I’m going to be joining with them again. I’ve already spoken to them and I guess we can do so in more detail when we get together for an extended amount of time.”
Before the details of his misdemeanours were revealed, Rabada had taken a plane home from the IPL 2025 in late March for alleged “personal reasons” after testing positive for ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, or cannabis, according to the South African Institute of Drug-Free Sport’s rule. After his suspension ended, he went back to India to play two more games with the Gujarat Titans (GT).
Rabada tested positive in January during the SA20 league, but he did not publicly reveal the circumstances surrounding his use of the prohibited substance.
“It led me to a bit of introspection about myself, and I took some time away from the game,” he said. “I think the biggest thing I took away from it is having gratitude for playing the game that we love. I’m just glad to be playing again… the process was handled really well.”
Despite apologising to supporters in a statement, he expressed his excitement about simply playing cricket for South Africa once more.
“As you would have seen in my statement there are some people who would have been disappointed. And to those people I’m deeply sorry,” Rabada said. “The people closest to me are the ones I felt I let down.
“But life moves on. I’ll never be ‘Mr-I-Apologise’ too much. But I’ll never condone that action.”