It's pretty awesome to win in Pakistan, says Proteas hero Kagiso Rabada

This is really something. The Proteas, holders of the World Test Championship mace, are showing they are worthy champions.

For all the talk of an easy route to Lord’s earlier this year, Shukri Conrad’s side have proved they can win anywhere.

In beating — nay, dismantling — the hosts yesterday in Rawalpindi, the Proteas achieved their first win in Pakistan in 18 years. It was particularly special for someone like Kagiso Rabada, who made his debut in Mohali a decade ago but had yet to taste victory on the subcontinent outside of Bangladesh until yesterday.

It was even sweeter due to Rabada’s sizeable contribution, with the fast bowler striking a match-winning 71 — the highest score by a Proteas No 11 — in a 98-run last-wicket stand with Senuran Muthusamy that changed the course of the Test and ultimately the entire series.

“Yeah, this victory, definitely one of the highest in my career,” said Rabada after the eight-wicket triumph that allowed the visitors to level the series. “Playing in the subcontinent is really difficult.

“Whenever you have a subcontinent tour, everyone's minds just start asking a ton of questions about playing the spin. We know that the subcontinent teams are gonna make the pitches turn because we haven't grown up in these types of conditions.

“The fast bowlers as well — we're used to bowling on bouncy wickets that seam — and wrapping your head around how you're gonna get wickets or slow the game down in these types of conditions.

“And mainly the batters’ understanding of how they're gonna defend, how they're gonna attack the spin and do that for a long period of time. So those are the types of questions that get asked.

“Obviously as well, the toss — the toss is so important in the subcontinent. Winning the toss is ideal and putting the opposition in to bowl. And when you're on the back end of that, how do you respond? So, tons of questions whenever there's a subcontinent tour.

“It is quite tricky. It's nice to win against Pakistan in Pakistan. I think it's pretty awesome.”

Rabada bowled beautifully across the Test match, with just the solitary success of Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique, but was more than happy to play second fiddle to spinners Keshav Maharaj (9/136) and Simon Harmer (8/135), who claimed 17 wickets between them.

“No one is bigger than the team. So, if you're a fast bowler and nothing's happening for you, it's about keeping the game quiet or finding a wicket here and there and applying pressure by slowing the rate down,” he said.

“I thought I tried to the best of my ability to get wickets. Tried my best with all the planning that we did, understanding of conditions, bowling with different balls — the new ball, slightly older ball, the reverse-swing ball. I tried my best. Unfortunately, the wickets didn't come my way, but it doesn't matter because we have quality spinners.

“You look at Keshav — he's one of the best spinners in the world. And Simon Harmer, he's been playing for many years and he's done a great job at home when he was playing domestically.

“And he was picking up wickets regularly when he was playing over in England at Essex. He's an experienced campaigner. He's got a lot of drive.

“He’s just very tenacious and he's extremely skilled. We came here with good spinners and you saw the way that they performed. That was a really, really massive tick. It was unbelievable.”

Rabada feels the Rawalpindi victory will provide this Proteas Test side with the belief they can replicate their success in the much-anticipated series against India next month.

“You know, you have to be doing a lot of things right to get results like that. Guys stood up and the lower order as well stood up. It was a collective effort,” he said.

“It definitely gives the guys a lot of confidence. Also, regarding the fact that it's a pretty young team and a young team that wants to go out and do the dirty work.”