Kagiso Rabada breaks Jasprit Bumrah's record with heroic spell in WTC final against Australia

Kagiso Rabada was the bowler who dominated the most during the first day of the World Test Championship (WTC) final between South Africa and Australia which mostly belonged to the pacers. Out of the 14 wickets that fell during the day, 12 were taken by the pacers.

The 30-year-old Rabada was the pick of the bowlers, taking a brilliant five-wicket haul and finishing with figures of 5/51 as the Proteas bundled out the Aussies for just 212 runs in the first innings. With this spell, Rabada also broke a record which was previously held by India star pacer Jasprit Bumrah.

Rabada completed 50 Test scalps against Australia

With his fifer, Rabada completed 50 Test wickets against Australia and also became the bowler with the best strike-rate against the reigning WTC champions in the longest format. Among players with 50 or more Test scalps against the Baggy Greens, Rabada now has a strike-rate of 38. Earlier, it was only Bumrah who had a rate of under 40 against the Aussies, however that record has now been broken by the South African speedster.

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Coming to the match, South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first at the iconic Lord's stadium in London. This decision proved to be great for the Proteas as their bowling attack tore aparat Australia's batting order. Other than Rabada, Marco Jansen picked up three scalps while both Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram finished with one each.

Despite getting bowled out for a small first-inning total, the Australian bowlers helped their side get back into the game. Mitchell Starc dismissed Markram for a duck in the first over itself before picking up the wicket of Ryan Rickelton for 16 runs in the ninth over. Australia captain Pat Cummins would send back Wiaan Mulder for six while Josh Hazlewood racked up the wicket of Tristan Stubbs for just two as South Africa finished the day reeling on 43/4.

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The responsibility has now fallen on the shoulders of Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma and his batting partner David Bedingham to get their side out of trouble. It will be interesting to see whether the batters will be able to fight back on the second day or the bowlers will continue their domination.