The South African cricket team faced a huge blow right after the commencement of the series. Proteas speedster Kagiso Rabada has been suspended for the second Test match by the match officials as he used the foul word for English all-rounder Ben Stokes. In the first innings of the first Test underway at Lords, Kagiso Rabada lost his cool after he dismissed Ben Stokes who already had scored a half-century. After he got his wicket, he used explicit language to send him off.
On day 1 of the first Test, England lost some early wickets in the morning session. In the later session, newly appointed English captain Joe Root and all-rounder Ben Stokes brought back the inning on the line with their attacking partnership. Gradually, Ben Stokes reached his fifty while the South Africans were getting frustrated with not being able to break this partnership.
Then came Rabada’s over when he delivered a short ball while Stoke tried to go for a pull shot. The ball touched the top edge of Stokes’ bat and landed safely in Quinton de Kock’s gloves. As soon as Rabada got this much-needed wicket, he shouted in joy and what he said was caught on the mic and clearly audible. He said,”Come on, F**k off “.
Rabada’s celebration for Stokes’s wicket. pic.twitter.com/uJ8gt84xZv
— Clive (@vanillawallah) July 6, 2017
Post this incident, the Protea spearhead was found guilty of breaching article 2.1.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his/her dismissal during an International Match”.
On the other hand, various cricketers came in support of Rabada and condemned his ban from the second Test. Former Protea skipper Graeme Smith has termed this action against Rabada ‘ridiculous’. He feels that the issue was blown out of proportion and could have been handled in a better way.
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