SA vs AUS | Twitter and Cummins cannot help but applaud Bavuma’s counterpunch to begin Day 2 on positive note

‌After dismissing Australia for just 212 in the WTC 2025 final under overcast conditions at Lord’s, South Africa also struggled to get away with the new ball trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood not giving an inch to the Proteas' top order. That forced skipper Temba Bavuma to bide his time and, as a result, could get off the mark only after 30 balls giving way to thunderous applause from the crowd.

Starting the second day at 43/4, Bavuma shocked the cricketing fraternity with his aggressive approach pulling out a lofted cover drive in just the third over of the day off Starc. That forced Cummins and Starc to rethink their field placements with Nathan Lyon going back to the backward point boundary.

But Bavuma was unperturbed by the field change as he played another lofted square drive, off the fifth ball of the same over, that raced past a running Lyon at the boundary. Bavuma used the width and length that Starc provided to make his intentions very clear pretty early in the day.

Twitter was shocked by the Proteas batter’s stunning assault that left even Pat Cummins clapping at awe of the shot.