'It was a dog fight.': Temba Bavuma's remark after South Africa missed out on the CWC final spot

It was a massive heartbreak for the Temba Bavuma-led Proteas as they were defeated by the Aussies in the second ODI World Cup semifinal. As Australia set up a lip-smacking showdown against India at the world's largest cricket stadium, South Africa may have to wait for an extended amount of time to secure themselves a chance to secure the World Cup title.

Three things you need to know

• Australia defeated South Africa by 3 wickets in the second ODI World Cup semifinal
• India defeated New Zealand in the first semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium
• India will now face Australia in the ODI World Cup Final

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Temba Bavuma opens his heart after semifinal loss

With South Africa missing out on another chance to reach the World Cup final, Temba Bavuma came up for an interaction with the commentators. He expressed his disappointment on losing out on one of their biggest chance to win World Cup gold. Bavuma mentioned,

Quite hard to put into word. Congrats to Australia, all the best for them in the final. They were outstanding for a large part of the game and thoroughly deserved victory. [Fight] Our character came through. It was a dog fight. The way we started with the bat and the ball was probably the turning point, we lost it quite badly there.

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With South Africa's semifinal defeat, Australia move on to the final

Five-time champions Australia excelled on the big stage yet again as they pulled off a scrappy three-wicket win to shatter South African dreams and reach their eighth ODI World Cup final here on Thursday.

On a testing turner, David Miller absorbed extreme pressure on way to a rearguard 101 and take South Africa to a fighting 212 after losing their first four wickets for 24 runs in the second semifinal.

It was a below par total but the Proteas did a make a match out of it with a spirited bowling effort before Australia, as they often do, held their nerve to close out the game in 47.2 overs, setting up a mouthwatering showdown against fierce rivals India in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

(With inputs from PTI)