South Africa Shed 'Chokers' Tag, Clinch WTC Final Defeating Australia. Keshav Maharaj Breaks Down

NDTV

2 days ago

A masterclass Lord's century from Aiden Markram and phenomenal assists from skipper Temba Bavuma and pacer Kagiso Rabada liberated South Africa from years of knockout stage failures and the much-debated "chokers tag" as they clinched their maiden ICC World Test Championship (WTC) title, defeating Australia by five wickets at Lord's on Saturday. With this victory, South Africa has laid their hands on their first-ever world title in international cricket. Also, this is their second ICC trophy after the ICC Knockout 1998. Also, Cummins' golden run as a captain, which started with the retention of the Ashes series against England and was followed by an incredible WTC mace and 50-over World Cup wins over India, has come to a halt.
Keshav Maharaj and Graeme Smith literally sobbing and got emotional, shows how much this victory means to them and all the South African fans pic.twitter.com/ZKhA2MKlke
— maddy (@224notout) June 14, 2025
Keshav Maharaj started crying when Graeme Smith took his interview. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/jggxYx4GXy
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 14, 2025
Keshav Maharaj started crying when Graeme Smith took his interview. 🥹
Congratulations SA For ICC Trophy After 27 Years #WtcFinal2025 #Champions #AUSvsSA #AidenMarkram pic.twitter.com/Wa5vdYWvSV
— Aarya (@Vitamin_Vk18) June 14, 2025
South Africa started the day four at 213/2, with the skipper Bavuma (66*) and Markram (102*), needing 69 more runs to win.
Skipper Pat Cummins struck for Australia in the third over of the session, removing Bavuma for 66 in 134 balls, with five fours. SA was 217/3, needing 65 runs to win.
Tristan Stubbs was next up on the crease. While Markram collected two boundaries against Cummins, the Proteas played it safe, defending well and rotating strike well. However, after drinks break, Mitchell Starc cleaned up Stubbs for just eight runs. South Africa was 241/4, still 41 runs away from the target.
David Bedingham joined Markram on the field, who was knocking the ball around safely for singles and doubles.
Proteas reached the 250-run mark in 74 overs. Bedingham and Markram continued to eat into the deficit with each passing over, with a classy on-drive from Bedingham pushing the target below 20 runs. A fine boundary through mid-wicket from Markram helped the deficit reach just 10 runs.
Markram's Lord's masterpiece however, came to an end, with a fine catch from Head, scoring 136 in 207 balls, with 14 fours. The fifth wicket was down, and six runs were left. Kyle Verreyne hit the winning runs for SA.
Starc took three wickets for Australia, but it was of no use. Earlier, Proteas had ended the day three of action at 213/2, with Bavuma (66*) and Markram (102*), needing 69 more runs to win. Australia had started the day three on 144/8, with Mitchell Starc (16*) and Nathan Lyon (1*) unbeaten. Starc went on to score a historic half-century, the first-ever by a batter nine or below in an ICC tournament knockout match (58* in 136 balls, with five fours) and added 59 runs for the last wicket with Josh Hazlewood, taking Australia to 207/10. Aussies led by 281 runs, setting 282 runs to win for Proteas.
Kagiso Rabada (4/59) and Lungi Ngidi (3/38) were the pick of the bowlers for South Africa.
On Day two, Proteas had started their first innings at 43/4 in response to Australia's first innings total of 212 runs. Skipper Bavuma (36 in 84 balls, with four boundaries and a six) and David Bedingham (45 in 111 balls, with six fours) put on a half-century stand, showing positive intent with some boundaries.
However, a historic six-wicket haul by Pat Cummins (6/28) left the Proteas struggling to catch up later, as they were skittled out for 138 runs, trailing by 74 runs. Mitchell Starc (2/41) got two wickets while Hazlewood got a wicket.
In their second innings, the Australian top order was dominated by South Africa pacers, as lack of runs from Usman Khawaja (6), Marnus Labuschagne (22), Cam Green (0), Steve Smith (13) and Travis Head (9) sunk Aussies to 73/7. A 61-run stand between Alex Carey (46 in 50 balls, with five fours) and Starc took Australia to 144/8 at the end of day two.
On day first, Proteas won the toss and opted to bowl first. They dominated the first session with the ball, as fiery spells from Rabada (5/51) and Marco Jansen (3/49) reduced Australia to 67/4. A 79-run stand between Smith (66 in 112 balls, with 10 fours) and Beau Webster (72 in 92 balls, with 11 fours) and a 46-run stand between Carey (23 in 31 balls, with four boundaries) and Webster took Australia to 212 all out.
With the help of early two wickets from Starc and contributions from Cummins and Hazlewood helped Australia reduced South Africa to 43/4 at day one end, with Bavuma (3*) and Bedingham (0*) unbeaten.