IPL 2020: Delhi Capitals pacer Kagiso Rabada reveals 'Coffee Mafia' in team, says they are his neighbour

Gone are the days (at least for now) when the team members used to go out and party to increase bondings amongst themselves during any tour or tournament, especially a one like Indian Premier League (IPL) which sees players from across the world playing together for a team.

But that's not a concern according to Delhi Capitals pacer Kagiso Rabada as humans "adapt" naturally and find a way out to go about the things. For instance, the South African pacer has revealed about a 'Coffee Mafia' run by his next door neighbour Harshal Patel. In a video posted by DC, Rabada has said that he wakes up and joins the 'mafia' as soon as he listens to the music coming out from his adjacent room.

"I think as humans we just adapt naturally. We are going to be indoors. but people are starting to come up with a whole lot of things to do indoors. For instance, there is a 'Coffee Mafia' that's been run in Harshal Patel's room and it happens to be my next door neighbour. It's not long walk for me. As soon as I hear the music playing in the morning, then I just go and then you can smell it. You smell the coffee and it's great. There's yoga, there's mediation classes. It gives us a chance to bond as a team. We had a team dinner last night," Rabada said.

Reflecting on the new situation under which cricket is being played, the 25-year-old said that players were just "privileged" to play cricket in the middle of desert. He added that it was "fun" and that he never thought he would ever be able to do so. Notably, IPL 2020 is being held in Gulf nation UAE because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"This (situation) is quite unique, not a lot of people get to do this. We’re in the middle of a desert, playing cricket it’s something that I didn’t think I would ever be able to do. So it’s a lot of fun also,” Rabada added.

Kagiso Rabada has started his training after completing his 6-day mandatory isolation period in UAE. The gun bowler said that he was feeling strong but he would like to bowl more to make sure that he remembers everything about his lethal art.

"I feel quite strong. I think I just need to bowl more, and make sure I haven’t forgotten how to bowl (laughs). I need to keep up with the bowling practice, but otherwise I feel healthy.”

Further, Kagiso Rabada said that Delhi Capitals was having a good bunch of players who can win together the first-ever IPL title for their franchise but they will have to make sure that they win when a win is really needed. Consistency is what DC will look for, Rabada added.

“We had a really good season, so I know that we can challenge and win this competition because we came really close last season, so mentally I guess that helps. But also, it is a new tournament so we have to start again and we’ve got a nice group put together, nice team. We have to start again and start the whole process, so hopefully we can get off to a good start but win at the end of the season we want to be the most consistent team and win at times when we really, really need to win,” said Rabada, who has 31 wickets in his IPL career in just 18 matches.