South Africa tried to block Kagiso Rabada from playing in the IPL

The Proteas seamer has been down on pace during the World Cup and Faf du Plessis admits they attempted to limit his workload prior to the tournament

South Africa's attempted to block Kagiso Rabada from playing in the Indian Premier League in an effort to preserve his fitness for the World Cup.

The 24-year-old took 25 wickets in 12 matches for the Delhi Capitals but picked up a back injury forcing him to miss the twilight of the campaign.

Though Rabada has played a full part in The Proteas' disastrous World Cup campaign he has been notably down on pace, taking just seven wickets in as many matches.

Not having their premier seamer at his best has been among the four-time semi-finalists' many shortcomings during the tournament and captain Faf du Plessis has admitted the team tried to block his participation in the T20 franchise league.

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"I don't think we'll ever have a perfect answer for that because he's probably biting on too much," Du Plessis said of Rabada.

"But we did try and get him not to go to the IPL; to try and stay and get fresh. That wasn't the case of [course] and then when he went there, we were like, let's try and get him back halfway through the IPL because it's important, not just for him, but a few other players.

"I mean, I spoke about it before the IPL even started, that it's important that we try and find space to rest our three-format players, because they play all the formats all the time, and then IPL. 

"So I don't think it's necessarily just the IPL, but it was important for a few guys to rest; and the fact that they didn't meant that they came into the tournament not fresh. That's not an excuse; that's just a fact."

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