Follow UsBefore the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final, a lot was said about Kagiso Rabada, right from his return following a ban because of recreational drugs. The common consensus was that the contest at Lord’s was going to be Rabada’s biggest test in his professional career.
Right from the first over, Rabada was on point, with an enthralling spell that left the Australian batting unit clueless, with figures of 5/51 in the first innings. Rabada followed that fire in the second innings too, picking up Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green in the same over, triggering an Australian collapse.
Despite finishing with match figures of 9/110, the South African pacer insisted that he doesn’t see himself as a ‘star’.
"I don't see myself as a star," Rabada told ICC. "I see myself as someone willing to work, give my blood for this team and continue working hard and improving. That's me as a cricketer, always wanting to improve and playing for the badge with a lot of pride. That's the way I'd like to see everyone play.”
It was during the historic victory that Rabada went past Allan Donald to become the fourth- highest wicket-taker for the Proteas side, with 336 wickets. Rabada reckoned that he looked at the Test as an opportunity to get as many wickets as possible to help the team.
"Every game I play, I'm looking to get wickets. I'm not going to go into the game thinking 'I need to get seven wickets for us to win', I look at it as an opportunity to get as many wickets as I can to help the team. In saying that, I know I won't do it alone and I back all the players in the team. You are playing for South Africa for a reason, it's not by chance.
South Africa broke a two-decade losing streak to register their second-ever ICC title, and their first-ever WTC mace, dominating Australia in the encounter over three days.
"We are a fairly inexperienced team who got put together about a year ago, we have not been with each other for a long time, and we have gone on and produced this. I'll never forget this in my life, none of the boys will forget this," he concluded.