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South Africa's pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada doesn't see himself as a star, even though the statistics suggest otherwise, following their historic victory in the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord's last week.
The WTC final lasted 10 sessions, and the Proteas seized the advantage early after forcing Australia to succumb to 212. Despite the advantage, South Africa fumbled on the opportunity and folded their first innings on 138. Even after a setback, South Africa didn't let their heads down. They chained Australia in the second innings and had them reeling at 73/7 at one point. However, a late surge from Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc ballooned Australia's lead to 282. But on a flattening pitch, Aiden Markram's stellar 136 steered them to a five-wicket win, helping South Africa to lift their first ICC title since 1982. "Where did we turn it around? Obviously, that bowling performance, because we could easily have fallen asleep in the field, and then they would have gotten away from us in a big way. As for KG (Rabada) - that's why he's the superstar. He knew we had one chance at it," SA head coach Conrad said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo. Rabada spearheaded South Africa's pace attack and dazzled with match figures of 9/110. The 30-year-old is fourth on South Africa's all-time wicket-takers list and possesses the best strike rate in the game for anyone with more than 200 wickets in the format. Despite all his exploits, Rabada refused to see himself in that light. "I don't see myself as a star. I see myself as someone who's willing to 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," he told reporters at Lord's as quoted from ESPNcricinfo. "I've been working extremely hard, and those second-inning spells are the ones that count more when you're a bit tired. You could be behind the game, or you could be ahead of the game. This time, we're behind the game. But I think it was just about staying calm and looking at what's in front of us. That's the way I see myself," he added. (ANI)
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