South Africa are the current World Test Champions.
It has been just above two months since South Africa’s historic victory at the Home of Cricket. The Proteas defeated Australia in the Final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 to lift their maiden Test crown. Aiden Markram shone with the bat, on the back of a blistering century in the fourth innings. His partnership with skipper Temba Bavuma pushed the South Africans towards the target, which wasn’t an easy one to get. The current Test champions lifted an ICC title in the senior men’s category for the first time since 1998.
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AMR
193/5
TBW
188/6
Amaravati Royals beat Tungabhadra Warriors by 5 wickets
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198/7
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196/9
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97/6
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133/5
Zagreb Sokol beat Zagreb Warriors by 36 runs
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58/10
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141/5
Rijeka Markhors beat Zagreb Sokol by 83 runs 🏆
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72/9
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124/8
Zagreb Assassins beat Zagreb Warriors by 52 runs
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91 Yards Club beat City Cricket Club by 5 wickets
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105/10
Navarang Club beat Guwahati Giants by 8 runs
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86/9
SLC Greens beat SLC Blues by 72 runs
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Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has recently joined the list of predictors. He took to his YouTube channel to express his views on both Australia and South Africa’s chances in the WTC cycle of 2025-27. The Australians have started the new cycle with a bang, with a monumental win against the West Indies away from home. They currently stand first on the table, with three wins out of as many games. South Africa beat Zimbabwe 2-0 in a series away from home, which would not be counted in the WTC rankings. Their primary challenge in the WTC 2025-27 will be against India in the month of November later this year.
Having said that, Chopra thinks that the patch for both these teams in the championship will be far from straightforward. He laid out all the series that the two nations will be playing, and went on to state that it would be challenging for both of them to make it to the Final this time around.
“Australia’s home series are against New Zealand, England and Bangladesh. They will 100% win against Bangladesh. They should win against New Zealand. Against England, it is a five-match series. So they are unlikely to get full points”, said Chopra about Australia via his YouTube channel.
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The 47-year-old went a notch ahead to point out Australia’s ageing bowling attack. He spoke about the fact that Australia could very well be in the middle of a transition phase soon, and that could impact their results in the championship. They current pace attack breathes fire with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland at the helm. Though Boland does not feature in all matches, he is a potential threat to any team he plays against. The Australians will be looking forward to host England for The Ashes in their own den.
As for the Proteas, they have a challenging schedule ahead of them. Chopra expressed that each of their series won’t be as easy as the one against Zimbabwe. Temba Bavuma and Co. have a good mixture of home and away Tests in this cycle. They will host Australia, England and Bangladesh in the series. However, the away series are where things get interesting. South Africa will play three away series in the championship. These will be against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively. The major challenge for the team would be countering the subcontinent conditions in all the three series.
Chopra picked up exactly this point to state that it might get very challenging for the current World Test Champions. They won the first Test against Zimbabwe by a whopping 328 runs. In the second Test, they upped the ante even more, beating the same opposition by an innings and 236 runs. However, their real test will lie on their tours to the subcontinent, and also when they host Australia and England. The Proteas also have a few questions to answer with respect to their balance of the side.
“Australia, England and Bangladesh are South Africa’s home series. Australia and England are tough. They [South Africa] will beat Bangladesh. The away series are against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. South Africa have less chances. All of their away series are in the subcontinent. There is a good chance of them not qualifying”, concluded Chopra.
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