South Africa’s leading man Kagiso Rabada is still smarting from the scheduling drubbing that forced him and other senior players to miss the two-Test series against New Zealand earlier this year. They said they had no say in the “unacceptably” bad incident. As many as seven players who have not represented their country have been selected for the series as part of the World Test Championship, although the first-choice players have all played in the SA20 league at home. New Zealand captain Neil Brand makes his Test debut in the opener at Mount Maunganui as the home team looks to win the series 2-0.

Looking back on that controversial incident, Rabada hoped that the players would not experience such unpleasant moments again.

Speaking to PTI, Rabada, one of the leading fast bowlers in the tournament, said: “It is very, very unacceptable and it remains unacceptable so far. It is obviously a planning issue. All I can say about this is that it is not acceptable Accepted.”

Rabada, who currently plays for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, also extended his support to South African players who are in embarrassing situations due to their own reasons.

“If I can go back to that, it’s unfair to attack players. It’s unfair to say players are selected and they get a free Test cap. I don’t think it’s fair to blame that criticism on players. “The players. They were just asked to be there and ultimately they weren’t going to say no.

“It’s a planning issue and it relates to what’s happening at the higher level; what’s happening in South African cricket. It’s basically a double book and that’s it.” Emergence of South Africa’s star players for young SA20 league Success was paramount, so Test cricket became a casualty.

“Ultimately, we didn’t even really choose to go there (New Zealand) because of the importance of SA20. It would be like shooting ourselves in the foot,” said the 28-year-old, who is considering Test cricket as the first format of the game. .

“Cricket originated from Test cricket and from my point of view, Test cricket is the best format. I think all the great players who have played in all formats would say that Test cricket is their favorite format. For me is also like this.”

Ensuring testing thrives outside the big three

India, England and Australia currently play the most red-ball matches in a WTC cycle, which includes five Test series.

“It’s quite unfortunate for countries other than India, England and Australia. In my opinion, to be a cricketing power, without the monetary advantage and TV rights advantage, you have to play good cricket.

“The better you play, the more teams want to play with you. It’s hard to argue with why these countries want to play against each other because at the end of the day, it’s about sustaining cricket, it’s about making revenue, that’s the game way of survival.

“How do you get other countries to play the same number of Test cricket… I’m not sure. If you are thinking about extending Test cricket, if you want kids to continue to play Test cricket around the world, then just There has to be a plan.” Rabada also praised BCCI’s recent initiatives to incentivize Test players but feels there is still a lot to be done.

“You pay cricketers (ok) but it’s also a culture. It’s not just about money because now cricketers have money. They can make enough money through leagues.

“It’s great what the BCCI is doing to motivate Test players. But it’s also a culture because all cricket comes from Test cricket,” added the South African, who took 291 wickets in 62 Tests .

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)