Last Updated:
India’s chances to meet South Africa in the WTC 2025 Final are still in their control, though Australia are front-runners.
Virat Kohli (left) and Rohit Sharma’s chances to play their possibly last WTC Final are still in their hands.
The World Test Championship (2023-25) took enormous twists and turns because of the two Boxing Day Tests — India-Australia in Melbourne and South Africa-Pakistan in Centurion. As the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test got set-up for a riveting final day, South Africa sealed a stunning two-wicket win to book a place in the WTC Final at Lord’s from from 11 June 2025.
India, Australia and Sri Lanka were the other contenders to reach the Final. All three of them must be hoping for a South African loss in Centurion but now the Proteas’ win percentile has gone beyond all three teams’ reach and only one of them can make it to Lord’s.
Now, Rohit Sharma and Co. can reach the final if they win both the remaining Tests against Australia. In this case, they won’t have to depend on other results.
If India draw any one of the Tests and win the other, they’ll need Australia to either lose to Sri Lanka in their upcoming two-Test series or win by no more than 1-0 margin. If both Tests are drawn, they’ll need Australia to lose 1-0 in Sri Lanka or draw 0-0 to reach the final.
In this case, if Sri Lanka defeat Australia 2-0, they’ll finish ahead of India to qualify for the final. Losing both the remaining Tests will rule India out of the race.
Pakistan scored 211/10 in the first innings, in what looked like a sub-par total. Only Kamran Ghulam (54 off 71) managed to go past the half-century mark, but not before a sizzling battle against South Africa’s ace, Kagiso Rabada, who almost got him out multiple times.
The hosts took control of the Test in the second innings, scoring 301/10, on the backs of Aiden Markram’s 89 (144) and debutant Corbin Bosch’s 81 (93). Pakistan started the third innings much better, with a 49-run opening stand, and saw Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel contribute excellent half-tons. However, a lower-order collapse meant they just reached 237.
A 148-run target looked comfortable for the Proteas but Mohammad Abbas had other ideas. His fiery spell blew away five of the top-six, including the top-scorer Temba Bavuma (40 off 78). Khurram Shahzad took out number three Ryan Rickelton for a duck, too, before Abbas took the crucial wicket of Bosch and Naseem Shah got the ‘keeper, Kyle Verreynne.
At Lunch, South Africa were 116/8 with Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen at the crease and Pakistan in firm control. However, the duo showed brilliant composure to see off the first few deliveries and then hit eight boundaries together to clean up the deficit in no time.
Jansen hit the winning boundary and ended at 16 (24) while Rabada stayed at 31 (26), probably achieving cult status in South Africa.
