(Cricket news) With an infection in the soft tissue of a lower limb, Kagiso Rabada went home from the Indian Premier League on Sunday night. Despite this, he is anticipated to be available for the full T20 World Cup.

Rabada will not play in the Punjab Kings’ next two games despite having played 11 games and claimed 11 wickets at an economy of 8.85. Rabada was permitted to return to South Africa after PBKS was eliminated from the playoffs, where he sought advice from an expert. He was “closely monitored by the medical team” in the run-up to the World Cup, according to a CSA statement.

Rabada’s inclusion is particularly important to South Africa because he is the only black African player named in the 15-man provisional squad, which has become a source of some controversy. CSA currently has targets for the national team that require them to field, on average over the course of a season, six players of colour in every XI, of which at least two must be black African. 

South Africa will miss that at the T20 World Cup, where they have six players of colour in the squad but only one black African. So Rabada will have to play every game to ensure they do not fall too far behind the overall target. South Africa will have the opportunity to increase the average over the 2024-25 season.

Lungi Ngidi is the only other black African player who was in realistic contention for the squad and has been included as a travelling reserve. South Africa’s other fast bowlers are Anrich Nortje, who has returned after a nine-month break caused by a stress fracture, Gerald Coetzee, Ottniel Baartman and Marco Jansen.

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