The Rajasthan Royals' (RR) greatest issue in IPL 2025 was grabbing wickets. That was the greatest reason why they ended up 9th, only winning 4 games. Wanindu Hasaranga was their top wicket-grabber, and 28 bowlers finished higher than him in terms of wickets. The spinners were fine, but fast bowling was much more of a concern. Sandeep Sharma wasn't as good as the previous year. Jofra Archer gave some glimpses of brilliance. But they didn't know their 3rd and 4th pacers. Tushar Despande, Akash Madhwal, and Yudhvir Singh underperformed. The standout pacer after Archer was 19-year-old Kwena Maphaka. RR handed him just two matches before dropping him. Despite claiming only one wicket, he still ranked among RR’s top 10 wicket-takers in the IPL 2025 season, with better figures than Deshpande, Madhwal, and Yudhvir, even though he played fewer games. But Maphaka's promise cannot be refused. The left-arm bowler was picked soon after he made an impact in the Under-19 World Cup. At 18, he was clocking around 150. South Africa has already given him all-format debuts. Maphaka is special; there's no doubt about it. Read also: India Wins Thrilling Test, Prioritizes Victory Over Points But is he T20 cricket and IPL, particularly, ready? It didn't seem so in the last two years. But his time possibly has arrived. Maphaka has played 38 T20s and 9 T20Is. He's still working on being a better fast bowler. But with the type of performance he produced in the Australia vs South Africa 1st T20I in Darwin, RR will be extremely delighted. Maphaka took his best career-T20I figures and 2nd-best T20 figures with a 4-wicket haul. Brought in during the 7th over, he swept away Mitchell Owen. Australia was already 4 down when he arrived, but he picked up 4 of the last 6 wickets. Maphaka bowled beautifully varying his pace, alternating between his quick ones and slower ones. Tim David signed him on, but Maphaka wouldn't give up. The tall batsman was dropped off his bowling, but he got him eventually anyway. Batting at 83, David had already scored more than 50% of Australia's total by then. If Maphaka hadn't taken his wicket, South Africa would have been in pursuit of a larger total. One highlight of Maphaka’s four-wicket haul was his ability to deliver in the death overs. A bowler capable of operating effectively from the 7th to the 20th over is rare, and Maphaka possesses that skill. At just 19, he has immense potential and is only expected to improve with time.