Cape Town, Jan 7: South African pacer Kagiso Rabada is confident that his side can pull off a big shock against Australia in the World Test Championship 2025 final and said the Proteas know how to beat Australia, as the plans for the one-off Test at Lord's are already in motion.
Key Points
1.
South Africa secured WTC final spot with dominant performance
2.
Rabada believes in Proteas' Test cricket capabilities
3.
Team prepared for intense Australia showdown
4.
Clean sweep against Pakistan boosts morale
South Africa closed out their bilateral cycle with a 10-wicket win over Pakistan in Cape Town on Monday, completing a clean sweep against Shan Masood's side following their earlier two-wicket win in Centurion, which sealed their maiden World Test Championship (WTC) final berth.
"It's actually quite some distance away, but a big occasion like the World Test Championship Final gets you up for it. South Africa versus Australia has always been an intense rivalry because we play cricket quite similar. We play hard - and they're going to come hard at us, and we know that," Rabada, who claimed six wickets in the win to help the Proteas to a seventh straight Test victory, said on SuperSport.
"But we also know how to beat them. (Test cricket is) our best format that we've been playing right now. When you look at South African cricket and all our legends, they've all been great Test cricketers. The world's best players are Test cricketers, and this series against Pakistan has been a wonderful advert," he added.
South Africa finished with 69.44 percent of possible points across the cycle for table-topping bragging rights, with fellow finalist Australia (63.73 percent of possible points) unable to eclipse the figure even with a clean sweep victory in their upcoming series against Sri Lanka.
With no Test match scheduled for South Africa before the WTC final, Proteas coach Shukri Conrad has outlined potential preparations. "We're going to try and get a Test match, possibly in the UK, against Ireland or Afghanistan, whoever is free. And if unsuccessful, we'll obviously go out a couple of days earlier and make sure we camp there really well, probably in Canterbury," Conrad said.
