South Africa's Kagiso Rabada reacts to impressive win over Australia at ICC Cricket World Cup

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00:00 You're so very well bold.

00:04 You've had a controversial evening.

00:05 It's not your fault.

00:07 But how do you keep your focus and bold as well as you did when all this craziness is

00:11 going on around you?

00:14 I guess it's just about focusing on the next ball.

00:17 Really that's what it is.

00:20 And we just go by what decisions the umpires make and what decisions the technology influences.

00:33 KG, when you hit Steve Smith's pad, it didn't really look like you guys were convinced.

00:43 Just what was your initial thought and what did you think when you saw it was hitting?

00:48 Well, I was hoping for umpire's call.

00:54 I felt as if it just skidded through.

00:56 It didn't really bounce much.

00:59 As you know, Steve, he walks across his stumps.

01:02 That's just his trigger.

01:05 From my angle and from Quinny's angle, it looked quite good.

01:11 And we decided to go up.

01:15 The technology favored us today.

01:17 But I thought it was close.

01:20 I don't think it was as obvious as missing.

01:23 KG, that wicket obviously was really important in that it opened up the middle order.

01:30 You've got a bit of a history with Steve Smith.

01:32 Just how important was it for you to get that and to know, "OK, we're in there now"?

01:37 Yes.

01:38 I think he was looking good.

01:41 He was moving really well, you could see.

01:43 And he's a key player for Australia.

01:46 He really binds that team together, that batting lineup together.

01:52 And he's always a key wicket in any format.

01:56 But looking at one-day cricket, he has the ability to occupy the crease and also score

02:04 runs whilst doing so.

02:07 So he was definitely a big wicket.

02:10 And we knew we had to get him early.

02:13 KG, after the Stoinis dismissal, which I think confused everybody, there seemed to be quite

02:20 a lot of discussion on the field between you guys and maybe even involving the Australians.

02:24 What was that about?

02:25 Was there any suggestion that the appeal should be withdrawn?

02:28 What was the talk about?

02:29 Well, I initially thought it hit his thigh pad.

02:33 And my teammates around me felt that they heard a woody sound.

02:43 And Stoin didn't look so convincing.

02:48 I think he felt as if he touched it.

02:53 I guess the controversy was around the fact that his hand was off the bat when the ball

02:59 made contact with his glove.

03:03 But we thought it was the bat handle.

03:07 Again, that's not up to us.

03:10 We reviewed it and the umpires made a decision.

03:13 Did they want you to withdraw the appeal?

03:18 No, I don't think we can withdraw the appeal.

03:21 That wouldn't make sense.

03:22 Did they want you to?

03:23 Oh, no, they didn't.

03:26 Hi.

03:28 This South African team have played at two venues which were considered substandard

03:34 during the IPL.

03:35 Are you surprised by the quality of pitches that have come up in both the places you have

03:41 built up record scores?

03:44 In Delhi, there was quite a decent amount of grass coverage.

03:50 And that certainly meant that the pitch would hold together for a longer time, which means

03:57 it would stay true.

04:00 That was the case in Delhi.

04:01 It was flat in Delhi.

04:03 And today, judging on how the pitches played here in the IPL, there was one that was really

04:10 dry and another that looked similar to what this one was like.

04:16 And the word around is that they have relayed the pitches.

04:20 I don't know how they've done that, whether they've added more grass.

04:24 I'm not too sure.

04:26 But it certainly looks that way.

04:29 And today, under lights, it just seemed to zip that extra bit more.

04:36 But the word during the day was that it had a bit of pace in it and a bit of bounce in

04:43 it.

04:44 And I guess with a bit of the moisture at night, it just did a bit more.

04:50 Q. KG, two-prong question.

04:54 Firstly, after the Sri Lanka game, there were a few people saying that even though the batting

04:59 was good, the bowling conceded quite a few runs.

05:03 And tonight, you guys came out and really you were clinical from the start.

05:07 Was that sort of part of the motivation?

05:09 Did you guys feel that you can do better?

05:11 And the second one is just why aren't you opening the bowling anymore?

05:16 The fact that I'm not opening the bowling was a team decision.

05:22 And whoever's opening the bowling will be trusted to do so.

05:25 It's a calculated decision.

05:28 Any one of us can fulfill any role.

05:31 So it could change moving forward.

05:33 But for now, that's the combination that we went with.

05:37 And I guess looking at every game, there's always areas to improve.

05:41 We were cognizant of the fact that we did slack off in certain areas in the previous

05:49 game, barring the fact that it was a very true wicket and a small ground.

05:57 But there will always be areas to improve in the game of cricket.

06:03 But we'll do our analysis and we'll see how we want to move forward.

06:09 KG, without putting the carriage before the horse, actually, in front of the horse, do

06:15 you believe that overall this is a statement win actually for you guys, just in terms of

06:20 getting momentum and going on with it and running with it?

06:24 We're just looking to play our best cricket whenever we play a game.

06:28 We're not worried about what statements we're making.

06:33 We're only worried about the plans that we want to execute.

06:36 KG, just on that, South Africa have done so well in these last two games that people

06:43 are starting to now talk about you guys as one of the favourites for the semis, etc.

06:49 Do you feel that yet or are you still just flying under the radar a bit?

06:54 We're still a long way away, but there are plenty of positives to take.

07:01 So that's a good thing.

07:04 But we're looking to rock up the next game.

07:08 Like I said, we'll see how we feel we want to improve, look at our strengths, look at

07:13 our weaknesses and look to brush up.

07:16 But generally I think we played nearly the perfect game of cricket.

07:22 So it's just about leaving this behind once we leave that behind and focus on the next

07:28 game.

07:29 That's it.

07:30 So probably this was asked earlier, but what did you take from the Australian bowling unions

07:34 there?

07:35 It looked like all three quicks tried a lot of cutters early on into the surface.

07:39 Australia are a quality bowling outfit.

07:41 It's always nice to watch and they've been doing it for years, this trio.

07:47 I thought they bowled really well, but our batters absorbed the pressure and then transferred

07:53 it when it was time to transfer the pressure.

07:56 It was never going to be easy and it certainly wasn't easy for our batters.

08:01 It's always a stiff challenge against Australia and we enjoy it.

08:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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