Kagiso Rabada was among South Africa's top performers as they defeated Australia by five wickets in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's on Saturday. The 30-year-old dominated against the Australian batters in both the innings and finished the match with a total of nine scalps under his belt.
In the first innings, Rabada's amazing figures of 5/51 were crucial to the Proteas bundling out the Baggy Greens for just 212 runs. After getting bowled out for 138 in their first innings, Temba Bavuma & Co. once again had to restrict the Aussies to a low total in order to not let them to take a huge lead and it was Rabada who delivered once again.
The speedster recorded brilliant figures of 4/59 and was once again the side's top bowler as they bundled out the Pat Cummins-led team for 207 runs in their second innings. This meant that they had to chase down the target of 282 to finally end their 27-year wait for an ICC trophy.
Markram and Bavuma's knocks propelled South Africa to the target
Aiden Markram's fantastic century and Bavuma's valiant 66 were the catalysts to South Africa's chasing down the target and emerging victorious on the fourth day of the Test match. Following the win, Rabada shut down all claims about Australia not being a 'good enough' opposition and pointed out that South Africa won the biggest trophy in Test cricket despite many people doubting them.
“I can’t describe in words how it feels at the moment. Obviously extremely happy, throughout this entire season we’ve played really well, we’ve worked really hard. I think we deserve to get into this position,” Rabada said after the victory.
“People were saying we weren’t playing good enough opposition, but I think that’s rubbish. We came here and we played the best team. Australia have been magnificent all season, and we had to be on our A-game to beat them,” he added.
This victory saw South Africa extend their unbeaten streak in the longest format to nine matches. Before this match, they had gone undefeated in their last four Test series. Their last defeat in red-ball cricket came against New Zealand in February, 2024.
Additionally, this is South Africa's second-ever ICC trophy in their history. Their first triumph came back in 1998 when they defeated West Indies in the final of the ICC Knockout Trophy.