Kagiso Rabada (born 25 May 1995) is a South African professional cricketer who plays as a right-arm fast bowler for the South Africa national team. He also represents MI Cape Town in the SA20 and the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League. Since making his senior international debut in 2014, Rabada has established himself as one of the leading fast bowlers of his generation, holding one of the best bowling strike rates in Test cricket history. He has been a pivotal figure in the national team's successes, including their victory in the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship.
By January 2018, he had topped both the ODI bowler rankings and the Test bowler rankings aged 22. In July 2018, he became the youngest bowler to take 150 wickets in Tests. In July 2016, Rabada became the first cricketer to win six awards at Cricket South Africa's annual dinner, including the prize for Cricketer of the Year. In June 2018, he again won six awards at CSA's annual dinner, including Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer and ODI Cricketer of the Year. In August 2018, Wisden named him the best young player in the world. He is one of the few bowlers to have taken a hat-trick in two different formats: ODIs and T20Is.
Rabada made his debut for the Gauteng in the CSA Provincial One-Day Competition against Border in December 2013.
Rabada was chosen to represent South Africa's Under-19 team for the 2014 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. For the victorious South Africans, he was their best bowler claiming the 2nd most wickets (14) in the tournament at an economy rate of 3.10. He also claimed the best figures of the tournament: 6/25 against Australia A. This led to him being dubbed "the fastest and most feared bowler in the competition".
Rabada's performances in the Under-19 World Cup saw him catapulted into the Lions franchise for their last two games of the Sunfoil Series season. He took 7 wickets for 186 in these two matches.
In February 2015, Rabada took a record 14 wickets in a match for Lions against Dolphins, including 9 for 33 in the second innings. His 14 for 105 are the best figures in the franchise era of South African cricket.
In February 2016, it was announced that Rabada had signed a short-term deal to play county cricket for Kent County Cricket Club in June and July of the English domestic season, passing up the opportunity of an IPL contract to gain experience in English conditions. He played in two County Championship and six T20 matches for the county during his spell in England.
In October 2018, he was named Jozi Stars' squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the Jozi Stars team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In April 2021, he was named in Gauteng's squad, ahead of the 2021–22 cricket season in South Africa.
In February 2017, Rabada was bought by the Delhi Daredevils team for the 2017 Indian Premier League for INR 50 million. In January 2018, he was bought again by Delhi (Delhi Capitals) in the 2018 IPL auction but was later ruled out of the season due to a back injury.
He was retained again ahead of 2019 Indian Premier League by Delhi Capitals. He played 12 matches in the league stage before leaving for national duty. He picked up 25 wickets and become the highest wicket taker for DC and overall second highest wicket taker of that season. DC qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012 IPL season. In the 2020 Indian premier League, he become the highest wicket taker of the season by picking up 30 wickets in 17 matches he played. In both seasons, Rabada played a vital role in his team's success.
In the 2022 IPL mega auction, Rabada was bought by the Punjab Kings for ₹9.25 crore (US$960,000). In April 2023, he took his 100th IPL wicket in his 64th IPL match, becoming the fastest bowler, in terms of matches, to reach the milestone in the competition.
In 2025, Rabada was bought by Gujarat Titans for ₹10.75 crore (US$1.1 million). He played only four games and taking only two wickets during the 2025 edition of the IPL due to a drug ban. In IPL 2026, Radaba won the purple cap after taking 29 wickets.
Rabada holds the record for fastest bowler to 50 and 100 IPL wickets, in terms of matches.
Rabada made his Twenty20 International debut for South Africa against Australia on 5 November 2014.
Rabada made his One Day International debut for South Africa against Bangladesh on 10 July 2015, achieving best figures of 6/16 on debut. He also became only the second player, after Taijul Islam, to take a hat-trick on debut in an ODI match. He made his Test debut for South Africa against India on 5 November 2015. In the fourth Test of England's 2015–16 tour of South Africa, he finished with figures of 13/144 helping his team win the game. In the process, he became the youngest South African to take a ten-wicket haul in a Test, and the figures were his team's second best ever, after Makhaya Ntini's 13/132.
Rabada's first ten-wicket haul in a Test match came in 2016 against England during the 4th Test at Centurion. He took 13 wickets in the match, including two five wicket hauls, and returned his best innings bowling figures of 7/112 in the England first innings. His second ten-wicket haul came in 2017 against Sri Lanka at Cape Town. During the first Test at Lord's in South Africa's 2017 tour of England, Rabada was suspended for the second Test at Trent Bridge following an altercation with Ben Stokes after using "inappropriate language" after dismissing Stokes on the first day.
As well as the five-fors he took in the matches when he took ten wickets, as of June 2017 he had taken a total of five five-wicket hauls in Test matches, the first of which was earlier in England's 2016 tour of South Africa. He repeated the feat in Australia in 2016 at the WACA. He was the man of the match in this fixture.
Rabada took 4/39 in the third ODI match of the South African tour in England in 2017. Following his performance in the match, Rabada became top ranked ODI bowler in the world displacing countryman Imran Tahir as per the ICC ODI bowler rankings and became youngest player (aged 22) to top the ODI rankings since Saqlain Mushtaq in 1998.