‘We are in the final, that's the only response I have’ - Temba Bavuma on criticism over South Africa's road to WTC finale

The finalists of the World Test Championship are set, as South Africa will be taking on defending champions Australia in the summit clash at Lord's in June. While the Aussies booked their finale berth after beating India 3-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, South Africa secured the spot after defeating Pakistan at home by a 2-0 margin. 

South Africa began their cycle with a two-game Test series against India at home. They followed it up with a series loss to New Zealand but managed to win the series against the West Indies, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. 

Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan recently reckoned that the Proteas reached the final by beating nobody given they did not play the higher-ranked sides. "If you look at South Africa, they’ve got to the final by beating pretty much nobody," Vaughan told Fox Cricket.

South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma has reacted to the claim, stating that a spot in the WTC final is enough a response to the critics. 

“I wouldn't like to respond to it (the critics). We are in the final, that's the only response that I have. We'd love to play more in South Africa. We'd love to be able to test our skills a lot more. We'd also like to be able to test our mettle a lot more. I think of the India series we played here at home, which ended 1-1. It was only a two-match series, and I think the end of that series was a bit of an anticlimax. I think England played about 22 Tests last year. We played 12, that's almost 50 percent. So, you know, hopefully, you don't really get those types of disparities," Bavuma told Hindustan Times.

I guess they have their reasons for seeing us as underdogs: Bavuma

Meanwhile, ahead of the summit clash, several experts branded Australia as the favourites. Reflecting on the same, Bavuma admitted that South Africa are indeed the underdogs.

"I guess they have their reasons for seeing us as underdogs. I think many people would have written us off in terms of getting to this point, looking at how our campaign started, our Test Championship started and look to go and win seven Test matches in a row," Bavuma said.