A humbled South African pacer Kagiso Rabada acknowledged that he has let his team down after his two-Test suspension significantly diminished South Africa’s chances of winning their home Test series against Australia. The fiery pacer recorded figures of 11-150 to help the Proteas win the second Test in Port Elizabeth on Monday and level the series at 1-1.

With matches to come on pace friendly tracks in Cape Town and Johannesburg, Rabada had the potential to lead his team to a first home series victory over the Australians since 1970.

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Acknowledging his mistakes while talking to the reporters after the match, Kagiso said, “It’s going to have to stop. I can’t keep doing this because I am letting the team down and I am letting myself down. I have to move forward. I have to see it as a big learning curve and not repeat the same mistake. I am not happy about it but time moves on.”

It’s not the first time Rabada has been suspended, he was put on the sidelines for the second Test against England in July last year after swearing at Ben Stokes, with the punishment pushing him to four demerit points.

After being found guilty of deliberately pushing the Australia skipper Steve Smith and being bossy in his send-off of David Warner in the second Test, Rabada now has nine demerit points, which led to an automatic two-game suspension.

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Talking about the same, Kagiso said, “There are a lot of grey areas but rules are rules. The reason why we went for a hearing (on the Smith charge) was that we believe that there’s not a lot of consistency. If I knew I did it deliberately, I wouldn’t have gone to contest.”

Rabada concluded by acknowledging the fact that lets his emotions get the better of him, he said, “I don’t know what I am thinking actually. To be honest, I just let it out. It’s a big series, there is a lot to play for. There’s a whole lot of emotion and pride. You don’t want to roll over. You want to get them out. It’s competitive.”