South African captain Temba Bavuma found himself in the middle of a major controversy during the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) final on the second day of play on Thursday (June 12) between South Africa and Australia at the Lord's Cricket Ground.

On the third ball of the 28th over of the Proteas innings, Josh Hazlewood struck Temba Bavuma on the pads. The umpire gave him out in what appeared to be a plumb decision. However, the South African skipper reviewed the decision.

Initially, many felt that Bavuma called for the review more out of hope with his team in a tough position. However, the replays left the world stunned as the snico metre showed a spike on Ultra Edge, although there appeared to be a gap between bat and ball in visuals seen by the naked eye.

The third umpire's reaction told a story as he was visibly stunned and was spotted questioning the person sitting beside him but was left with no choice but to change the decision. Bavuma himself gave a look of surprise and evidently did not feel the edge while the Australian players were furious.

Commentator Ian Smith was stunned by the call and pointed out how Bavuma's body language did not appear to give confidence that he was not-out or indicate any edge. Later, Mel Jones also stressed that the South African captain himself did not think the ball hit the bat.

“Well that’s an interesting one for me, I’ve got to say. Because it took forever to think about reviewing it. When you feel as if you’ve got a touch on it you just automatically say ‘I’m sorry, I’m reviewing that because I believe my bat has made contact with the ball there’. There was no semblance of that in that discussion. That was so interesting.

“This was the slightly controversial one because everything aligned in terms of the LBW shout,” she said over another replay.Temba Bavuma’s reaction was all about ‘do we use the review, was it going to hit’. It didn’t feel at all like he had that inside edge," said Jones.

Cricket fans also took to social media and voiced their disagreement with their decision while suggesting that there was a technological glitch.

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Ultimately, Bavuma made 36 runs as South Africa were bowled out for just 138 runs and conceded a 74-run first innings with Australian skipper Pat Cummins taking a six-wicket haul.

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