South Africa speedster Kagiso Rabada revealed that they will look for partnerships to chase down 282 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at Lord's Stadium in England. Rabada who was the standout performer for the Proteas with nine wickets in the finale also said that the condition at the venue favoured batters during the first session of Day 3, admitting that the older ball did not help their cause, making it tough to wrap things up quickly.
"First of all, the ball got a lot softer, 50-60-over-old ball, the sun is out. Yesterday, there was a bit of cloud cover. Hopefully the sun stays off for us during the chase. (Key to chase down the target) The first thing is partnerships and just to be positive, positive intent and looking to go out there and chase the score. No two ways about it" said Rabada after Australia's second inning.
Rabada, who was just one wicket shy of 10 scalps in the WTC final reckons that it would be nice if he managed to get a 10-wicket haul, but rather a win than a 10-fer.
"It'll be great if we could win. Lord's is a special place. I have enjoyed playing here and bowling here as well. Would have been nice to get the 10-fer, but rather win than a 10-fer" Rabada added.
Coming back to the match, the task is cut out for South Africa. They have to chase down 282 runs to beat Australia and lift the ICC World Test Championship mace, which would be their first major world championship in cricket, and a deep dive into statistics proves that as easy it might sound with over two-and-the-half days worth of action left, Proteas will have to play out of their skins to pull off this chase.
A frustrating stand between Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood for 10th wicket, during which they put on 59 runs and Starc scored a historic first-ever fifty by a player batting at number nine or below in an ICC knockout match, took Aussies from 152/9 to 207, helping them put up a challenging 282 to chase for Proteas.