Credit: ICC
In the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final between Australia and South Africa at the iconic Lord’s, Kagiso Rabada displayed his courageous side to put the former side on backfoot. At the toss, South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma emerged victorious against his counterpart Pat Cummins and elected to field first. Eyes were set on Australia as spectators were eager to know who would accompany Usman Khawaja to open the innings. Finally, Marnus Labuschagne walked out into the middle with the southpaw to kick off the Aussie side’s batting innings.
In the seventh over of the game, Kagiso Rabada struck the reigning champions, picking up the crucial scalp of Khawaja, who departed without scoring any runs after consuming 20 deliveries. The Protea trapped Khawaja with a good length delivery which hoodwinked the left-handed batter to nick it towards David Bedingham, who was deployed at the first slip. Cameron Green was sent at number three to support Labuschagne but the youngster’s innings could survive at the crease for three deliveries only. This time, Rabada bowled a fuller delivery to get the 26-year-old caught at the hands of Aiden Markram standing at the second slip position.
Steven Smith held his nerves to bring Australia back into the match
After the early departure of Australia's top-order batters, Labuschagne (17 off 56) and Travis Head (11 off 13) also struggled to be impactful. In the crunch situation, Steven Smith has stepped up to bring his side back into the game. In the 34th over, Smith clobbered Rabada for a four and brought his 42nd Test fifty.
However, Smith couldn't stay at the crease for long as he got out after scoring 66 runs off 111 balls hitting 10 boundaries. Australia have now lost five wickets under 150 runs with Beau Webster and Alex Carey at the crease. The defending champions will now aim to get to a fighting total against South Africa by the end of day one at Lords.
