Temba Bavuma's unique celebration with mace goes viral after South Africa's historic 2025 WTC final win [Watch]
South African captain Temba Bavuma came up with a unique celebration after lifting the World Test Championship (WTC) final mace on Day 4 at the Lord's Cricket Ground. The 35-year-old held the mace like a gun as a video of the same surfaced on social media during the team's celebrations.
The veteran cricketer played an invaluable knock of 36 in the first innings to give the Proteas some semblance of control after early blows. In the second innings. The right-hander played yet another gutsy innings of 66 and shared a partnership of 147 with Aiden Markram in the second innings to put their side on course for victory in pursuit of 282.
Watch the video of the South African captain celebrating below:
Bavuma was dismissed in the second innings too by his opposite number, Pat Cummins. Although the Proteas needed over 50 runs by then. The 30-year-old, who was well set, took the run-chase forward. After Markram fell for 136, Kyle Verreynne hit the winning runs. Markram also earned the Player of the Match.
"We have been wanting this as a team" - Temba Bavuma
At the post-game presentation, Bavuma stated that it was an extremely special moment for the entire country, having experienced heartache consistently over the years. The veteran stated, as quoted by Cricbuzz:
"It has been a special couple of days, felt like we were back home in South Africa with the support we have had. Special moment for us as a team, special moment back home, will take a couple of days to sink in. The energy was there, we have been wanting this as a team, we have been knocking on the door, we have gone through the heartache, the disappointments, seen it with the past players and the sun is on us."
The Proteas lost against India in the T20 World Cup 2024 final and broke their 27-year drought of not clinching an ICC title.