Temba Bavuma: South Africa defeated Australia by 5 wickets in the WTC final.
Temba Bavuma: South Africa captain Temba Bavuma has made a sensational disclosure about sledging by Australian players during the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final. Bavuma told that when the Australian bowlers and fielders could not put pressure on the South African batsmen with their bowling and fielding, they adopted the old trick of sledging in the title match. Bavuma said that he heard the Australian players say that they would bowl out South Africa within 60 runs.
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South Africa’s historic win
South Africa won the ICC title after 27 years by defeating Australia by 5 wickets in the WTC 2025 final played at Lord’s. Australia had an early lead in the match, taking a lead of 74 runs in the first innings and scoring more than 200 runs in the second innings despite losing 7 wickets for 73 runs. Despite this, brilliant innings from Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram made the target of 282 runs easy.
Australia’s sledging strategy
Bavuma revealed after the match that on the fourth day, when South Africa needed 69 runs to win and they had 8 wickets left, the Australian players started sledging. Bavuma told, “Playing against Australia has been a bit different in the last few years. They are not very vocal on the field, but show aggression with their body language and skills. The ‘chokers’ tag came to the fore again this morning.”
“We will bowl them out for 60 runs”
Bavuma further said, “One of their players said that we will lose our eight wickets for less than 60 runs. I heard it clearly. Aiden Markram kept saying after every over, ‘Keep locking in, don’t give them anything.’ There was not much conversation, just one or two things were said.” South Africa responded to this sledging with their batting and achieved a historic victory.
