London [UK], June 12 : As Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bowl first in the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025 against Australia at Lord's, the responsibility of leading the attack with the new ball fell to Kagiso Rabada. And the experienced pacer wasted no time in making an impact on the ultimate stage, as per the official website of ICC.
Removing Australia opener Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green in his opening burst, Rabada went on to claim his 17th five-wicket haul in Tests. His spell helped South Africa bundle the defending champions out for 212.
Rabada believed the Proteas could've managed to run through the Aussie batting much sooner.
"212, we'd take that. We thought we should've had them at 160, but that's just the way the game goes," the pacer told reporters at the end of the day's play at Lord's, as quoted from the official website of ICC.
With Australia five wickets down for 146, Beau Webster took command of the first innings with a handy knock of 72.
Rabada lavished praise on the all-rounder, who shifted gears after seeing through South Africa's pace battery early on in his innings.
"Yeah, he didn't start off too well there, looked like he was going to get out any ball but I guess his positive intent got him through," he said.
Rabada eventually got rid of Webster, and marked his bowling figures by overtaking Alan Donald as the fourth-highest wicket-taker for the Proteas in Tests.
"To be named in that list of bowlers is special," Rabada said on the milestone.
"As a player growing up and representing South Africa, I've been inspired by those who have come before and seen what they have done on the big stage. To be listed among those names is special and long may it continue," he added.
While Rabada was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa, Australia pacers also made early inroads towards the end of Day 1 at Lord's.
Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and skipper Pat Cummins all struck with the ball as South Africa closed the day at 43/4.
"I think the ball is nipping quite a bit, at times nipping off the slope quite a lot. But I still felt like batters could get in. If you just put more balls in the right area for a long period of time that would create chances," he noted.
"Right now, we're 43/4, not the start we were looking for but there's a lot of cricket to be played in this Test match. So we're just going to keep going for it," he said.
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