WTC Final 2025: Markram’s Century, South Africa 69 Runs Away From Victory — Will the ‘Chokers’ Curse Finally End?

WTC Final 2025: The World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2025 between South Africa and Australia has reached a highly thrilling stage. South Africa now needs just 69 runs to win the match and shed the long-standing ‘chokers’ tag. In this crucial encounter, South African opener Aiden Markram has played a brilliant century, taking his team closer to victory. He remained unbeaten on 102 runs off 156 balls, which included 11 boundaries. With this innings, Markram not only stabilized the innings but also silenced his critics who had trolled him after his failure in the first innings.

Silent in the First Innings, Hero in the Second

Markram couldn’t contribute much in the first innings, which led to considerable criticism. However, in the second innings, he displayed immense patience and composure, proving himself to be the true match-winner. Alongside Markram, captain Temba Bavuma is also unbeaten on 65 runs. Together, they have carried the team’s score to 213 by the end of the third day. Now, only 69 runs remain for victory, and the team still has 8 wickets in hand.

Will the ‘Chokers’ Tag Finally Be Erased?

Australia’s fast bowlers — Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood — have so far failed to make any significant impact. South Africa’s batsmen have handled them well, scoring runs whenever opportunities arose. Due to repeated failures in crucial ICC tournament matches, South Africa has long been labeled as ’chokers.’ This label became even more prominent after their defeat to India in the 2024 T20 World Cup Final. However, if they succeed in winning this WTC Final, it would not only be a historic triumph but could also finally lift the curse of being called chokers once and for all. All eyes are now on the fourth day of play. Will South Africa become the World Test Champion? The answer will soon be known.