01 September,2026 08:56 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Kwena Maphaka (Pic: X/@ICC)
South Africa is set to take on Australia in the three-match Test series. The first Test match is scheduled to be played from October 9 at the Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban.
Ahead of the series, lead pacer Kagiso Rabada's feature is uncertain for the hosts. He sustained a right hamstring injury during the training session a few days ago, following which he was ruled out of the ODI matches against the Aussies.
Young pacer Kwena Maphaka expressed his readiness to step into Rabada's shoes if he doesn't recover in time for the Test series.
"I really hope that KG [Rabada] is back in time. But if that doesn't happen, it's one of those things where somebody has to step up, and if that's me, I'm really confident in my abilities," he told Cricinfo, according to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
"I've led a bowling attack before with the Lions, with South Africa Under-19, and I've been in the Proteas for a little bit now. So yeah, I'm really confident in my abilities," added Maphaka.
Further, the pacer said that he has worked on his run-up and will aim to bowl in the right areas as consistently as possible.
"The biggest thing for me was really working on my consistency. I was decent in the T20 format, but there was a lot of work to do in the longer formats that would also help in T20s. We worked on a little bit of my run-up, but the biggest thing was just consistency and making sure that I can hit an area as consistently as possible. I feel that I've done that so far," he said.
The youngster's one eye is towards next year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The speedster is targeting to become a regular in the South African pace attack by the time the home World Cup rolls around next year.
"It'll be a massive privilege and a massive honour (to be involved in that)," Maphaka said.
"I'd definitely love to be in the squad, and hopefully I could be one of the leaders at the forefront of next year's World Cup, especially being a home World Cup. I've had the opportunity to play in a home Under-19 World Cup, something that a lot of people haven't been able to do. That experience and being able to play in front of home crowds would be really special to do a second time around," he concluded.
(With ANI Inputs)
