Johannesburg [South Africa], November 8 : South African pace veteran Kagiso Rabada said that winning the ICC World Test Championship would not satisfy him fully, since the ICC Cricket World Cup has "so much value and history".
Rabada's statement comes when Proteas are in contention to reach their first-ever WTC final. South Africa is at the fifth spot in the WTC 2023-25 points tally and has an outside chance to make it to the title clash, needing to win atleast three of their last four matches of the ongoing cycle and have other results go in their favour, as per Wisden.
Proteas are though yet to win a 50-over World Cup at senior level, for men's and women's both. The Proteas fell short by seven runs in the T20 World Cup final against India and the women's team as well fell short in two successive finals this year and the last year.
The men's ODI team reached the semifinals of the 50-over World Cup last year in India, where they lost to Australia in the semifinals. Their group stage run was brilliant, finishing at second place to an undefeated Team India, with seven wins and two losses.
Speaking to SportsBoom in an interview as quoted by Wisden, Rabada said, "We are edging closer and closer to winning a World Cup and it's just a matter of making that last, full step. But it was nice to be in that moment (reaching the final and on being verge of winning it), we now know what it takes. You need a bit of luck as well."
"But having that experience is important, coming so close under high pressure, experiencing that will be invaluable going forward. I think the lesson we take from that final is not to over-complicate things, but the lessons will apply to each individual differently. But there was so much agony and once you feel it, you can't unfeel it."
He added: "Winning the World Test Championship would not completely satisfy me, although I would still be very proud, and it would be amazing to do it. But the 50-over World Cup has so much value and history; the World Test Championship is not there yet, it's a new thing.
"For me, winning the ODI World Cup is the holy mecca. You lose one game in the playoffs there and you are gone. Whereas the World Test Championship is about who the best team is over a two-year period. We are now at crunch time in that tournament," he concluded.
Rabada is one of the greatest Test bowlers of modern era, having taken 313 wickets in 66 matches at an average of 21.49. Combined with his 157 ODI wickets and 71 T20I scalps, Rabada has taken 541 wickets in 232 matches at an average of 24.06.
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