Kagiso Rabada, the Proteas’ fast bowler, recently served a one-month ban after having been found with cocaine in his system.
This was revealed by City Press yesterday.
Earlier this month it emerged that Rabada had been banned for one month for recreational drug use, but initially it was not revealed what drug he had tested positive for.
After a match between his SA20 franchise, MI Cape Town and Durban’s Super Giants, Rabada tested positive for a metabolic chemical found after cocaine use.
He was informed of the positive test in early April. This saw him immediately withdraw himself from the Indian Premier League in which he was playing, in order to serve the one-month ban.
Rabada could have faced a longer ban, but his legal team successfully kept the ban he served to the lowest punishment that could be served.
South African cricket fans will be relieved, as Rabada will be spearheading South Africa’s pace attack in the World Test Championship final next month, where South Africa is due to meet Australia at Lord’s in London. A longer ban would have meant Rabada would have been unavailable for this crucial match.
[Image: By NAPARAZZI – KAGISO RABADA, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38063610]