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At just 20, Kwena Maphaka could be poised to step into the shoes of South African pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada when the defending ICC World Test Championship champions host Australia later this year.
"I really hope that KG [Rabada] is back in time. But if that doesn't happen, it's one of those things where somebody has to step up, and if that's me, I'm really confident in my abilities," Maphaka told Cricinfo, as per ICC. Rabada injured his right hamstring during training a few days ago and was subsequently ruled out of the ODIs against Australia. While there is currently no confirmed timeline for his recovery, South Africa will be hoping their star pacer returns in time for the three-match Test series against Australia. Should Rabada be unavailable, Maphaka believes he is ready to step up and lead the attack if called upon to do so. "I've led a bowling attack before with the Lions, with South Africa Under-19, and I've been in the Proteas for a little bit now. So yeah, I'm really confident in my abilities," he added. Maphaka burst onto the scene at the 2024 ICC Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup, where he was the leading wicket-taker and was named the Player of the Tournament. He has since made his foray into the South African national team, playing in two Tests, three ODIs and 19 T20Is. "The biggest thing for me was really working on my consistency. I was decent in the T20 format, but there was a lot of work to do in the longer formats that would also help in T20s. We worked on a little bit of my run-up, but the biggest thing was just consistency and making sure that I can hit an area as consistently as possible. I feel that I've done that so far," he said, The youngster's one eye is towards next year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The speedster is targeting to become a regular in the South African pace attack by the time the home World Cup rolls around next year. "It'll be a massive privilege and a massive honour (to be involved in that)," Maphaka said. "I'd definitely love to be in the squad, and hopefully I could be one of the leaders at the forefront of next year's World Cup, especially being a home World Cup. I've had the opportunity to play in a home Under-19 World Cup, something that a lot of people haven't been able to do. That experience and being able to play in front of home crowds would be really special to do a second time around," he concluded. (ANI)
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