Kagiso Rabada achieved a major milestone on the opening day of the Bangladesh vs South Africa 1st Test match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka on Monday (October 21). Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first but the plan seemed to have backfired as they lost wickets at regular intervals. In the process, Protean pacer Rabada also achieved a major milestone.
The 29-year-old became the third-fastest Protean pacer after Dale Steyn and Allan Donald to get to 300 wickets in the game's longest format, in terms of matches played. Rabada achieved the feat in his 65th Test match. Steyn and Donald had done it in fewer Tests with the former getting to the milestone back in 2012 in his 61st Test and the latter having breached the 300-wicket mark in 2000 in his 63rd Test.
Wicket number 300 for Kagiso Rabada🔥
— FanCode (@FanCode) October 21, 2024
He is the only bowler in the history of Test cricket to reach the milestone with a strike rate of less than 40.😮#BANvSAonFanCode pic.twitter.com/XFrxe6dlQq
Dale Steyn - 439 wickets in 93 matches
Shaun Pollock - 421 wickets in 108 matches
Makhaya Ntini - 390 wickets in 101 matches
Allan Donald - 330 wickets in 72 matches
Morne Morkel - 309 wickets in 86 matches
Kagiso Rabada - 300* wickets in 65 matches
Rabada clean bowled Mushfiqur Rahim to get to the 300-Test wicket mark. After being asked to bowl first, Rabada and fellow pacer Wiaan Mulder were relentless with the news ball before spinners Keshav Maharaj and Dane Piedt also started chipped in with wickets. Bangladesh are staring at a lowish first-innings total after being reduced to 76/8.
As far as Rabada is concerned, he is a former world number 1, a ranking he achieved in 2018 when the right-arm pacer was only 22. Rabada also happens to be the only bowler to have completed 300 Test wickets at a strike rate of less than 40.
