Challenging the Colour Line in Cricket: The Case of Kagiso Rabada

Kagiso Rabada, a prominent black cricketer, has always had to deal with the dual criticism and scrutiny that comes with his race. When performing exceptionally in matches, his racial identity is hardly recognized by his white countrymen. They see him as merely a South African player. However, any lapse in performance quickly brings to the fore his blackness, sparking racially biased questions.

There's an assumption that Rabada might be pulling his punches during games because of the CSA's racial selection target that requires a minimum of six black and brown players in every XI, two of whom must be black. The conjecture is that since he is practically guaranteed a spot, he can afford to underperform. Some even label him as lazy. Such racially charged queries have plagued black players since the first black player, Makhaya Ntini, joined the international cricket scene in 1998.

White South African cricketers do not experience such racially motivated skepticism. Nobody questions their merit or potential biases in their selection. The experience is polar opposite for black and brown players in South Africa.

This issue became all the more obvious during last month's T20 World Cup in the United States and Caribbean. Rabada was the lone black player in a squad with a modest five brown players. The selection marked the lowest number of black and brown South African players chosen for a World Cup squad since the 2016 T20 World Cup.

Presently, coaches are responsible for the selection of players rather than a panel. Rob Walter, the coach for the white-ball squads, made it clear when he unveiled the T20 squad that the responsibility of finding and nurturing talent falls on Cricket South Africa (CSA), not him.

Rabada is not burdened with being the best black bowler but rather the best bowler he can be, without any racial asterisks. He denies any added pressure due to his race or being the only black player in the T20 World Cup squad. Rabada affirmed his merit, saying he's open to being dropped if he doesn't make the cut.

Theoretically, Rabada could be left out, but the implications of such a decision would have been significant. Therefore, Rabada played in all South Africa's matches in the T20 World Cup and delivered impressive performances. Rabada took 13 wickets in the tournament, only trailing Anrich Nortje among South Africa's fast bowlers, and had a decent economy rate of 6.29, which was better than all but Ottneil Baartman and Nortje.