Kagiso Rabada hits back at naysayers after WTC Final win

The team fighting at Lord's against the defending champions in the World Test Championship Final was special. Over the years, South Africa has seen the emergence of legends like Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, and AB de Villiers. However, the modern-day legends remained devoid of ICC glory across their careers. When the Proteas, led by Temba Bavuma, won the WTC Final 2025 against Australia, South Africa finally put an end to a 27-year-long trophy drought. The ultimate victory, in the original format of the game, meanwhile, meant a lot to Kagiso Rabada, who covered a significantly challenging path up to the all-important match.

Rabada, Bavuma hit back at critics after South Africa beat Australia to win the WTC Final

The WTC Final victory meant everything for the Proteas, who overturned a curse of almost three decades. However, for Rabada, it meant a lot more. The month preceding the summit clash at Lord's witnessed Kagiso Rabada facing a suspension for the use of a 'recreational drug'. The speedster completed his suspension right ahead of the WTC Final. In the summit clash, Rabada laid the foundation of his team's victory, scalping a five-wicket haul on the opening day itself.

Moreover, when Australia made things tough for the Proteas, with Pat Cummins delivering an equally lethal spell, Rabada rose again. To limit Australia's lead in their second innings with the bat, Rabada scalped another four, taking his wickets tally to 9 in the WTC Final clash. Meanwhile, as the Proteas finally won the match by 5 wickets on Day 4, Rabada took aim at the critics. Time and again, the fraternity has pointed out the supposedly easier way taken by South Africa up to the ultimate Test.

However, irrespective of the teams that the Proteas played over the two-year-long WTC cycle, they met the reigning champions in the Final. Australia, the defending champions, arrived at Lord's after a 3-1 win over India at home, claiming the Border Gavaskar Trophy after over a decade. Clear to see, South Africa could not have gotten a tougher opponent to fight against in their bid to win the Test Mace. After the Proteas cleared the hard-fought trial, Rabada took aim at the critics who questioned their tactics.

“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,” said Rabada. 

“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.

South Africa was charged by the century of Aiden Markram in the fourth innings to take the victory home. However, the most vital aspect behind their historic win was the partnership between Markram and the skipper Temba Bavuma. Bavuma fought off a hamstring injury to score a half-century on Day 3 of the game. His 66-run knock, added with the heroics of Markram, propelled the Proteas to the WTC Final glory. Meanwhile, the skipper himself reflected Rabada's thoughts, firing back at the critics who found the team's run-up to the summit clash 'easy'.