Exclusive: Kwena Maphaka Ready to Make His Mark for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025

South Africa's Kwena Maphaka, at only 18 years of age, carries international cricket and SA20 experience into his second season of the Indian Premier League where he will be steaming in the pink and blue colours of the Rajasthan Royals.

Kwena Maphaka, SA's brightest talent of the new generation

There aren't many 17-year-olds who can boast about playing in the Indian Premier League, one of the top ten biggest sports leagues in the world among the likes of the NFL, NBA and English Premier League.

That stat alone makes South African fast bowler Maphaka an outlier as he was roped in the league's biggest team, the Mumbai Indians, in the 2024 edition of the tournament.

Maphaka was still a schoolboy finishing his matric when he made his debut as the Mumbai Indians flew the youngster in with his mother and hired a tutor to help the youngster strike a balance between his studies and taking on the world's best batters.

Right from the get-go, Maphaka's spark lit up the iconic Wankhede Stadium with the left-arm fast bowler making his presence felt with sheer pace in his debut season.

A couple of months later, Maphaka went on to become South Africa's youngest-ever debutant when he made his T20I debut in the Caribbean before going on to earn his Test debut at the picturesque Newlands Stadium in Cape Town during the New Year's Test against Pakistan earlier this year.

Now, at 18 years of age, with decent experience under his belt, Maphaka feels confident heading into his second season of the Indian Premier League despite having switched teams, joining the Rajasthan Royals this year.

"This will be my second season in the Indian Premier League. Obviously, I'm really excited," Maphaka told SportsBoom.co.za in an exclusive interview.

The value of experience

Having had a taste of international cricket over the past few months, Maphaka heads into his second season of the IPL a different player.

When an 18-year-old is able to handle mega tournaments such as the SA20 with poise and composure as Maphaka did last month, one cannot doubt his ability to handle the upcoming IPL season.

Maphaka told SportsBoom that all the experience he has gained in the past ten months puts him in good stead for a good IPL season.

"I'm coming off a pretty good summer I'd say, playing some international cricket, playing the SA20," he said.

"Just being able to take in all those experiences from playing there, the learnings from playing against some of the best in the world and learning from some of the best in the world and seeing how I match up to some of the best in the world, I think that's definitely going to put me in good stead for the Indian Premier League coming up where the best in the world come to play."

"Seeing that I had a pretty good summer, I'm pretty confident going into this season of the Indian Premier League."

Rajasthan Royals

At the Rajasthan Royals, Maphaka will join other exciting youngsters such as Yashasvi Jaiswal and will play under the leadership of wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson.

With the Rajasthan Royals having secured the services of England fast bowler Jofra Archer, the 2019 World Cup winner, Maphaka has a role model to look up to this season.

The young fast bowler is likely to take the new ball this season with Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhap Farooqi and Nitish Rana likely to bowl around the youngster.

The Rajasthan Royals are set to get their campaign against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday, 23 March 2025.