India vs South Africa 2019: Jasprit Bumrah vs Kagiso Rabada: The pace battle looms

Jasprit Bumrah vs Kagiso Rabada: The pace battle looms in the Test series beginning on October 2

Bengaluru, September 9: India will face South Africa in a home series that cotains three T20Is and as many Tests. The series will kickstart with the first T20I at Dharamsala on September 15.

India are expected to win the series in their backyard as many of their frontline cricketers are in good form too. On the contrary, South Africa are reeling after the retirements of a few big names but they will be keen to see fast bowler Kagiso Rabada coming with a few good spells to boost their chances. India will be looking forward to Jasprit Bumrah carry on his good work over the last year or so in this series so. Here's a look at the potential Bumrah vs Rabada battle.

INDIA VS SA SCHEDULE INDIA VS SA SCHEDULE

1. Jasprit Bumrah

Bumrah now has 62 wickets from 12 Test cricket starting from his tour of South Africa in early 2018. Recently, he took 13 wickets from two Tests against the West Indies including a hat-trick. At this state, his strike-rate and average is a comparable to several past legends and in fact he stands a yard ahead of many of them. He might have played only 12 Tests over a year but has taken the world by storm with his ability to swing the ball both ways at a high pace.

Kagiso Rabada

The 24-year-old South African is an outright pace bowler who look to hustle out batsmen. It is hard to tell the effectiveness of the strategy at this stage because the nature of the pitches in all probability will not suit his style of bowling. But Rabada has played 37 Tests and has taken 176 wickets and that experience is hard to dismiss. He also has played in India as part of the Delhi outfit in the IPLs and he should be knowing a thing or two about the conditions here. Additionally, it was on this country, Rabada started his Test career back in the 2015-16 season as a 20-year-old. In his last Test series against Sri Lanka, Rabada took 10 wickets from two Tests.

3. What Rabada said about Bumrah

"I admire those bowlers (Bumrah and Jofra Archer), they are good bowlers," Rabada told iol.co.za before adding, "However, the media hypes certain players, and that's okay. I know I have been playing very well. Archer is such a natural talent; Bumrah is doing wonders, and that can force you to lift your game. You are not always at the top, that's one thing I can tell you," he said.

"It's never easy maintaining a career. I've learned that there are a lot of ups and downs," he said. "I want to be the best in the world, everybody does. You are naturally going to compete in that fashion, I'm not too worried, I'm feeling nice and easy," he added.

4. On Bumrah's craft

India bowling coach Bharat Arun said Bumrah's success so far is a combination of factors like skills, unorthodoxy, high pace, accuracy and mental presence under any situation. He had also cited the example of Bumrah's outing against the West Indies as an example. Arun was particularily impressive about how Bumrah came back strongly after a fruitless first innings of the first Test at Antigua.