London, June 14 (IANS) After South Africa ended their International Cricket Council (ICC) title drought with a five-wicket win over Australia to win the 2025 ICC World Test Championship final, a teary-eyed left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj said winning the coveted Test mace at Lord’s has been an absolute honour.

By chasing 282 on the fourth day of the final, South Africa broke their 27-year knockout hoodoo to win the ICC World Test Championship for the first time. “It’s special, it’s an honour to lift the cup for everyone out here and back home. It’s what the country’s about, the unity among everyone in the last five days. We’re very grateful, as a team, as a nation, as a proud country.”

“I think the emotions would’ve spurred me in the right direction had I got into bat. Thanks to everyone who’s been supporting us, through adversity, we’ve stood strong. We honour those who’ve come before us, may this be a stepping stone for greater things to come,” said Maharaj at the conclusion of the title clash.

Kagiso Rabada, who picked a match haul of nine wickets, said he can’t describe this feeling of winning the WTC final in words. “Extremely happy, we’ve planned well and worked hard. We deserve to be here. People said we haven’t faced strong opposition, which is rubbish. We beat Australia this time and had to be on our A game. Thanks to everyone for the support, the last four days felt like a home game.”

Left-arm pacer Marco Jansen said he was left in awe of Aiden Markram hitting a magnificent 136 in the unbelievable chase. “Don’t know what to say, was sitting there praying, luckily we got the job done. A lot of nerves in the changeroom, and a lot of guys are quiet, but to have the crowd cheering every single run, you can’t ask for more. Markram un-frickin-believable, he and Temba took us home. I think that’s what dreams are made of. Dreams are meant to be achieved, and we’re going to celebrate really, really well.”

Lungi Ngidi further stated that he was speechless right now over becoming a WTC winner. “The other evening with that spell was about to break the game opening. The excitement kept me going. I can’t say much now. I am very proud of what the boys have achieved. It’s been a lot of emotions, and the blood pressure is quite high.”

Kyle Verreynne, who hit the winning runs, said he was just relieved to hit the winning runs for South Africa. “I’m just relieved – I was sitting there watching the morning session thinking ‘I don’t want to bat, I don’t want to bat!’ Obviously, Aiden did beautifully, but walking out to the middle but I was as nervous as I’ve ever been. You can listen to the whole ground singing. Probably getting a little emotional now. It’s incredible.”

David Bedingham described the winning feeling as ‘amazing’. “Very nervous, but the way Aiden and Temba went about it made us calm. Thank goodness we got over the line. The sun plays a massive factor, we got lucky with the conditions. It’s been 27 years, and I am so thankful we got over the line.”

–IANS

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