SA hopeful of Rabada putting the incident of his drug ban behind as the WTC Final looms large ahead of them.
SA hopeful Rabada puts ban behind him as WTC final beckons.
When Cricket South Africa (CSA) found out about Kagiso Rabada’s positive drug test and accompanying month-long ban, the organization’s first concern was for his welfare. Rabada is not a regular recreational drug user, has educated himself, and is prepared to return to his best at the World Test Championship (WTC) final next month, according to coach Shukri Conrad, Test and ODI captain Temba Bavuma, and director of the national team and high performance Enoch Nkwe.
“I’ve been engaging with KG ever since I learnt about it,” Conrad said at a press conference in Johannesburg, where South Africa’s squad for the WTC final was announced. “The biggest thing for me was whether KG is all right and to close ranks around him and ensure that he’s in a good space. At the end of the day, we care for all our players. He served his sentence, and all that I’m interested in now is KG producing performances that we know he’s capable of.”
Rabada tested positive for what the World Anti-Doping Agency’s signatory, the South African Institute of Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS), refers to as a “substance of abuse” on January 21 following a SA20 match between MI Cape Town and Durban’s Super Giants. On June 4, 30 days after Rabada’s appeal process ends, SAIDS will make the precise substance public. However, based on their doping rule, it can only be one of four substances: ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, or cannabis.
Rabada’s overall well-being has come under scrutiny when a number of people in the area expressed their hope that it was an isolated incident, acknowledging that it is quite unlikely for someone to use drugs just once and get caught. Rabada’s long-time buddy Bavuma stated that his “biggest concern is more from a personal point of view,” while Nkwe acknowledged that the event occurred “out of competition”—that is, not on a match day—but provided no other information.
“If there is an issue there, then he gets the support that he needs. If there’s not an issue, if it was him being reckless, then he deals with it,” Bavuma said. “The sledging, the media from the UK, from Australia, he deals with that. Just make sure that he comes out better from the situation.”