Former Australian cricketer Tim Paine slammed Kagiso Rabada for the use of recreational drugs. Earlier, Rabada withdrew from the Indian Premier League 2025 mid-way through the tournament from the Gujarat Titans, citing personal reasons at the time. “As has been reported, I recently returned to South Africa from participating in the IPL for personal reasons,” Rabada said in a statement. “This was due to my returning an adverse analytical finding for the use of a recreational drug,” he added.
“I am deeply sorry to all those that I have let down. I will never take the privilege of playing cricket for granted. This privilege is much larger than me. It goes beyond my personal aspirations. Moving forward, this moment will not define me. I will keep doing what I have always done, continuously working hard and playing with passion and devotion to my craft,” Rabada said.
Paine, though, lashed at the 29-year-old for the usage of the term “personal issue” as he returned to South Africa from . “It stinks. I don’t like this use around personal issues, and it is being used to hide stuff that isn’t a personal issue. If you have a professional sportsman who’s tested for recreational drugs during a tournament in which he is playing, that doesn’t fall under personal issues for me. That falls under you having broken your contract. That is not a personal issue; that is something that is happening in your personal life,” he said SEN Radio breakfast show.
“Taking drugs – recreational or performance enhancing – is not a personal issue that can just be hidden for a month. A guy can be taken out the IPL, moved back to South Africa and we just let it slide under the rug. Then we will bring him back once he’s already served his ban,” he said.
Rabada, who is now back in India, said he was looking forward to returning to the game he loves playing. Rabada played in the Titans’ first two matches in this season’s IPL, taking two wickets before flying back to Johannesburg.
