Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins has immense praises for his South African counterpart Kagiso Rabada, saying that the youngster has set the fast bowling standards pretty high for the others. Rabada, just 23 years old, has been one of South Africa’s leading pacers even while greats Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel have been in the side. He had established himself as a potential leader of the Proteas daunting pace attack even before he turned 21.

During Australia’s infamous tour of South Africa earlier this year, Cummins and Rabada were the leading wickets takers for their respective teams. In the four-match Test series, Rabada finished with 23 scalps, having won the race against Cummins by just one wicket.

The Australian, who last played a Test in April this year, has regained full fitness. As he gears up for the South Africa ODI series next month, the speedster is looking forward to resuming his rivalry with Rabada.

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Speaking to cricket.com.au, Cummins said, “You always want to get one up on each other, but really you’re just worried about what you’re doing. He’s set the standard the last couple of years in fast bowling. You always pick up things watching the best do their stuff. We’re a similar age, similar bowling styles in that we’re trying to be attacking, bowl fast and aim to take those big wickets.”

Cummins has 64 wickets in 39 ODIs as compared to Rabada’s 86 in 54 ODIs. He also paid rich tributes to Dale Steyn who recently made a strong comeback to limited-overs cricket against Zimbabwe and is all set to fly to Australia for 3 ODIs and a lone T20I.

Talking about Steyn, Pat said, “If Rabada’s been setting the standard the last couple of years then Steyn was setting the standard for fast bowling half a dozen years before that. He’s someone who always gets themselves in the game, he’s always the strike weapon, up for every game, he bowls fast, takes big wickets and is so competitive He’s had a couple of serious injuries but to get himself back and be a star performer again is great for the game. He’s someone you have to turn on the TV and watch when he’s bowling.”