Legendary Australia batter Steve Smith lavished praise on South African star Kagiso Rabada after his five wickets bundled Australia for just 212 runs in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2025 at the Lord's Cricket Stadium. The spearhead took the last three wickets and enabled the defending champions to collapse from 195 for 5 to just 212 runs all-out. Smith said the South African pacer's consistency and competitive spirit make him a force to reckon with.
Rabada started his first spell with a bang by striking two times in the same over to send Usman Khawaja for a duck and Cameron Green for four runs. Those two dismissals put Australia on the back foot and vindicated his captain Temba Bavuma's decision to field first after winning the toss on an overcast morning at Lord's.
"I wouldn't say he doesn't move it around. I think he's got good skills. He can shape the ball away; he can nibble it both ways. He's relentless; he's always at you. He's always up for the challenge, he charges in all day, and his record speaks for itself, doesn't it? He's a quality bowler and showed that again today," Smith said in the post-day press conference, acknowledging Rabada's impact, as quoted from ICC.
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Kagiso Rabada surpasses Allan Donald's Test wicket tally
Not only did Kagiso Rabada's performance put South Africa in the driver's seat, but in the process, the 31-year-old surpassed Allan Donald's 330 wickets tally to now become the fourth-highest leading wicket-taker for Proteas. The speedster's five-wicket haul in the WTC Final has put him with New Zealand's Kyle Jamison. These two bowlers have only taken a five-wicket haul in the three editions of the WTC Finals.
In five knockout matches across formats, Rabada has now taken 11 wickets at a phenomenal average of 19.27. The right-arm pacer's five-fer in the WTC Final is now his best performance in an ICC Knockout game, taking him third on the Proteas all-time list of wicket-takers in ICC Knockouts, behind Jacques Kallis (14) and tied with Shaun Pollock and Donald (12 each).
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Historically, Lord's has been an extremely happy hunting ground for Rabada. In just three matches he has played at the iconic venue, he has now picked 18 wickets at a stunning average of 16.83 and a strike rate of 30.2, which is marginally lower than his overall career strike rate of 39.2.
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