Maharaj and Rabada set up comfortable win in the end for Proteas

An 11th career five-for by Keshav Maharaj ensured South Africa kept their 2025 World Test Championship final fate in their own hands when they beat Sri Lanka by 109 runs on the fifth day of the second Test on Monday.

On a sunny Monday morning at St George’s Park in Gqeberha, Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada needed just 17 overs between them to remove the remaining Sri Lankan batters, claiming a comfortable victory that saw South Africa triumph 2-0 in the series.

The win sees them spearhead the WTC25 table with a points percentage of 63.33, more than three percentage points ahead of Australia in second place.

While the present Australia-India series may still affect the top of the table, New Zealand’s series defeat against England means South Africa now only need to win one of their two Tets against Pakistan in the coming weeks to confirm their place in next year's final.

Resuming the day on 205/5, with the visitors' captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis each unbeaten on 39, Sri Lanka would have wanted to tat partnership, which stood at 83, to continue to flourish.

Maharaj made an important breakthrough when he broke the sixth-wicket partnership at 97 runs, removing Mendis for a well-played 46 from 76 balls, which included three fours and two sixes.

De Silva reached a 13th career half-century off 92 balls, hitting seven fours with his side still 123 runs behind the victory target.

Rabada would find the edge of the right-hander’s bat to send him back to the dugout and leave the Sri Lanka tail exposed in just under 45 minutes of play.

Left-arm spinner Maharaj struck again when Prabath Jayasuriya hit the ball fiercely but found South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma at cover, snatched for just nine runs as the last recognised batter departed with the tourists on 233/8.

Maharaj completed his five-wicket haul removing Vishwa Fernando for five runs before Marco Jansen closed out the match with the wicket of Lahiru Kumara (1) caught by Ryan Rickelton.

Maharaj finished with 5/75, while Rabada, Jansen, and Dane Paterson returned figures of 2/63, 2/33 and 1/54 respectively.