Wisden’s men’s Test spell of 2023, No.4: Kagiso Rabada – 5-59

South Africa v India
First Test of two-match series
SuperSport Park, Centurion, December 26-27

It is the 27th over of the series. India had been 24-3 at one point, but Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer have weathered the storm. South Africa have been up against these rearguard acts before, but the circumstances are atypical here.

Anrich Nortje has been ruled out of the series. Lungi Ngidi, of this Test. The team management did not think this is a pitch for spinners, so there is no Keshav Maharaj. The four pacers have to do the job. Of them, Nandre Burger is debuting. Gerald Coetzee has played two Test matches. Marco Jansen, eleven.

You can see why it has to be Kagiso Rabada and no one else. Rabada knew a phase when South Africa had Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, and Morne Morkel. He used to bowl alongside them.

Not anymore. He is leading an attack of greenhorns here. His support cast is gifted but not experienced, and there is no fifth bowler.

Rabada had bounced out Rohit Sharma early in his first spell and sent down seven overs with the new ball. Now he has to return for a second spell to end this menacing-looking stand.

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He had almost taken out Iyer in that first spell, but Jansen had spilled the chance. India have moved to 91-3 since then, and all they need is to play out this spell.

They cannot, for it takes Rabada six balls to strike. You can perhaps call Iyer a tad unlucky: he plays the length, but the ball keeps a tad low and bursts through his defence to hit timber. The stand is broken, and South Africa are one wicket away from the all-rounders.

The situation is not new to Kohli. He has got runs on these shores, even against Rabada. He came on this tour with an average of 51 in South Africa. Of the three balls he faces in the next over, not one troubles him.

But then, with Rabada, the next corker is always just one delivery away. It pitches on off and middle, on a good length. Kohli covers the line; he has accounted for some away movement, but this one jags away almost like a fast leg-break to kiss the outside edge. Behind the stumps, Kyle Verreynne does the rest.

India send R Ashwin above Shardul Thakur. Ashwin dispatches Rabada for two boundaries. Solid, confident shots. Perhaps India will hit their way out of this.

Dean Elgar, standing in for Temba Bavuma, asks a fifth over of Rabada in the spell – his 12th in the first 35 of the innings. Rahul survives an inside edge, then runs a single. Rabada beats Ashwin’s bat once, twice, thrice, and still has another delivery up his sleeve.

Now comes the masterpiece, a ball both unplayable and unleavable at the same time. It pitches on a length and rises at great pace. The steep bounce surprises Ashwin, but it is too late to get out of the way; so he does the next best thing by loosening his grip. That absorbs the shock, but not all of it: the ball still balloons to third slip.

With three wickets in 19 balls, Rabada had broken the middle order on his own. On most days, it would have been enough, but his job is still not done here, for Rahul and Thakur add 43.

So Rabada has to return for another spell. This time, it takes him two balls. The first, a nasty snorter, jams into Thakur’s forearm. Thakur responds by driving the next ball to Elgar.

Rabada continues, beating the outside edge again and again, and ramming one into Jasprit Bumrah’s gloves, but does not get another wicket. Rahul’s fine 101 takes India to 245, but that innings is quickly put into perspective by Elgar’s seven-hour 185.

Rabada strikes twice more on the third day as South Africa win by an innings inside three days, dashing India’s hopes of winning a maiden Test series in the nation.

The series ends with Rabada on 291 Test wickets at one every 39.2 balls. No one in history – not even in the era of uncovered wickets – had as many as half his scalps at a superior strike rate.

Does that make Rabada the greatest strike bowler of all time? It is difficult to tell. But at Centurion, he reminded the world why he has been among the forerunners for that title. Like all legendary strike bowlers, he struck with the new ball and the old; got inexpensive wickets and ended partnerships; and even when he did not take wickets, he always looked a ball away from breaking through.