New Delhi, June 10 (IANS) Ever since Pat Cummins took over as Australia’s Test captain, the side has almost won everything in three and a half years of being at the helm, including the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final. Expectations will be sky high from Cummins & Co. to retain the WTC title they won in 2023 when they take on first-time finalists South Africa in what is billed as the ‘Ultimate Test’ at Lord’s from Wednesday.

Sanjay Bangar, the former India all-rounder who also served as their batting coach, believes if Australia retains its WTC title, it would be a testament to their players’ skill, meticulous planning and dedication towards becoming the world’s best men’s Test team.

“It would be very significant because see this is a format which has been designed quite thoughtfully as well and there’s never a format which is nearly perfect. But at least I think what with the World Test Championship happens is that there is relevance for each and every Test match.”

“For most teams, because in earlier times, you sort of knew midway through the season – like earlier the Test championship was based on the points and who was going to be number one at the end of each year. At times you felt that okay the relevance for each and every Test match wasn’t there from progressing ahead point of view,” said Bangar, a JioStar expert, to IANS in a virtual interaction on Tuesday.

“So Australia would be very pleased because to win across all conditions and reaching the finals is indeed a very big achievement. It only goes on to show the kind of planning and the kind of importance that Cricket Australia also gives to these ICC events because they generally pace their players in that particular fashion.”

“So if they have done that for four years that itself speaks a lot not only about the players, but also about the careful planning that may have gone through behind that,” he added.

As compared to Australia being the serial champions, South Africa are still searching for a major championship win. The Proteas have been in the knockouts of ICC events since 2023, but have endured the ‘so close, yet so far’ story in both men’s and women’s tournaments.

The key to South Africa’s success in the 2025 WTC final, according to Bangar, lies in how their top three batters – skipper Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, and Ryan Rickleton – handle the threat posed by Australia’s skillful left-arm fast-bowler, Mitchell Starc.

“The key match-up would be the left-arm, Mitchell Starc, bowling to the top-order of South Africa there, Temba Bavuma or even for that matter (Aiden) Markram, like how they can take the team beyond the new ball phase. If they can play through the new ball phase, then the match could get evenly balanced in that sense.”

“Then the middle-order of South Africa can get better or bigger first-innings total in Test matches. Like getting a score of over 350-400 in overseas Test matches or in English conditions is pretty vital for any team to win that Test match. How they negate the new ball threat from Mitchell Starc would be the match-up that I will be very interested to see,” he concluded.

–IANS

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