Kagiso Rabada will miss rest of the Series after shoulder brush with Smith

ICC has declared that South African pacer Kagiso Rabada will be suspended for the rest of the ongoing South Africa vs Australia series.

Cricket South Africa said that Rabada, who frightened the Australian batting line-up on the first day of the second Test, will miss rest of the series after being charged with a Level two offence following his brush with Aussie skipper Steven Smith on day one.

Level two offences are for conduct of serious nature. In Rabada’s scenario, the alleged offence is that of making intentional contact with opposition player.

After getting Smith Out following a LBW shout, Rabada roared in celebration but failed to control his emotions as he approached Smith aggressively and brushed shoulders with the Aussie captain.

Rabada’s history of bad discipline is long. On Feb 2017, he made a deliberate contact with Sri Lanka’s Niroshan Dickwella and was charged with three demerit points and 50 per cent of the match fee.

While on July, 2017 he used inappropriate language after dismissing England all-rounder Ben Stokes, was charged with one demerit point and fined 15 per cent of match fee and got suspended  for one Test. 

Whereas on Feb, 2018 he was charged with one demerit point and fined 15 per cent of match fee for using language which could provoke an aggressive reaction from Indian batsman Shikhar Dhawan.

This is the second heated incident of the series following a face-off between the Proteas’ wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock and Australian vice-captain David Warner, for which the latter was fined 75 percent of the match fee.

A Cricket South Africa spokesperson said Rabada would defend the charge by arguing that the contact with Aussie skipper was accidental.