McClenaghan: 'Rabada was as prepared for IPL 2026 as he could be'
"This is probably the best condition I have seen Rabada in," McClenaghan says
Gujarat Titans (GT) have always been a side that expects a lot of their bowlers, whether bowling first or last, but rarely have they had their two biggest names firing in tandem quite the way they did on Saturday night. Kagiso Rabada returned 2 for 33 in three overs, and Rashid Khan, the Player of the Match, had 4 for 33 from four. That's 6 for 66 from seven overs, and Rajasthan Royals (RR) didn't stand a chance.
Rashid has been an IPL great, now one spot above Lasith Malinga at No. 10 on the table of top wicket-takers in the tournament. But he came into IPL 2026 after two mediocre IPL seasons: ten wickets at an economy rate of 8.40 in 2024, and nine wickets at 9.35 in 2025. He put down the 2025 downer to rushing back after his back surgery, and this season, he has started to look very, very threatening: 15 wickets from 11 innings with an economy rate of 8.26.
"Let's see the [Shubham] Dubey wicket, [bowled] from over the wicket [to a left-hand batter]. If he gets the ball to turn from outside off stump or off stump and hitting middle or off, that's a really good delivery," Deep Dasgupta said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut. "It was the old, vintage Rashid today. If you remember when Rashid was at his best, almost every delivery was hitting the stumps. Today, if you look at his four wickets - three bowled, one leg before - and if you look at his beehive, you'll find a very high percentage of those deliveries were hitting the stumps.
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"So that's Rashid Khan at his best. Plus, the moment he starts bowling over the wicket to a left-hander and his legspin deliveries are hitting the stumps, he becomes very dangerous."
Rashid took the match honours, but rising to the top of the Purple Cap table was Rabada, who now has 14 wickets in his last seven games, and 18 for the season.
Mitchell McClenaghan, who had spent time with Rabada before the tournament began, pointed to his preparedness for this season of the IPL - after three average seasons, where he took 20 wickets in 21 games and had economy rates of 10.08 and 11.57 in two of the three years - as the reason for the uptick in his performance, especially his speeds.
"He's come to the point where he realises that his T20 game, particularly in the IPL, hasn't been where he would like it," McClenaghan said. "I think he sees this tournament as a privilege, and wanted to make sure that he was as prepared as he possibly could be by the time he got to this tournament. [He made] a lot of effort in terms of getting a sprint coach, who trains one of the best sprinters in South Africa, and working with him on conditioning. And this is probably the best condition I've seen KG Rabada in.
"And he's getting the fruits of the work that he's put in, because he's bowling rapid. He is bowling exceptionally well. I think at the start of the tournament, we were saying who is it out of Jofra Archer and KG Rabada, who's top of the tree in terms of the out-and-out quicks? I think KG has pushed past [Archer] tonight. Like he wanted to go up against Jofra Archer and just go mano a mano, prove who's the best in the IPL at the moment. The Purple Cap kind of is a little bit of a cherry on the top, but I'm just stoked with the amount of work he's done and how successful he's been so far."
Dasgupta: It was vintage Rashid today
"The moment Rashid Khan starts bowling over the wicket to a left-hander and his legbreak is hitting the stumps, he becomes very dangerous," says Deep Dasgupta
Rabada didn't get as many wickets as Rashid did, but he got two big ones: Yashasvi Jaiswal in the fourth over with a climbing, hard-length delivery just outside off at 152.1kph, and Shimron Hetmyer, also in the powerplay, with a very similar delivery. Both batters were rushed into their swipes.
The motivation to do well, McClenaghan said, stemmed from being perceived as a Test and ODI bowler, and not so much a T20 powerhouse.
"I reckon he's got to the point where he knows he's one of the best, if not the best, Test bowler in the world. When it comes to one-day cricket, he's exceptional as well," McClenaghan said. "And I don't think he likes not being seen in the top echelons in T20 cricket. He's a very proud man, and he won't like the fact that he's sat on the bench in IPL cricket [in the last three seasons]. Or not performed as well as he would have liked for South Africa in World Cups.
"So I think he's very proud, and when he switches his mind on to a task and wants to compete, you can't stop this guy."