Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 4 (ANI): Ahead of the top-of-the-table clash in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma gave an intriguing reaction to a question related to “chokers” tag sometimes associated with his team due to its not winning trophies despite doing well in the league stages of international tournaments.
Bavuma said they’ll handle stressful situations to the best of their abilities.
“To choke? I don’t know how to answer that. I think if we come unstuck tomorrow, I don’t think it’ll be a matter of choking. I doubt you would say that about India as well if they come unstuck if they choke,” Temba Bavuma said during a pre-match press conference.
“You got two teams who are in-form, coming up against each other and I think it’s just a matter of who breaks first and who’s able to I guess, exploit that moment or that weakness. We understand that there will be pressure moments within the World Cup, moments that we’ve overcome to get to this point, and there will still be more. We’ll deal with them as best as we can. But yeah, I haven’t heard that word come up as of yet in the training,” he added.
Rohit Sharma-led Team India have been playing exceptionally well in the ongoing 50-50 over marquee tournament at home. They have won their previous matches with resounding margins. India is the first side to reach the World Cup semifinals.
India’s pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah as also spinners have lived up to the expectations so far. “Yeah, their bowlers, I mean, you don’t get a lot of bad balls. Like I said, the three-up front, Bumrah, Siraj, as well as Shami, are guys who can exploit anything with that new ball. If there’s swing, if there’s nip, they can exploit that…I guess with that there comes an opportunity to score.”
“But you really got to be on your A game with that new ball. Then obviously they’ve got their spinners in the middle who really hold the game, in Yadav as well as Jadeja, Yadav has that ability to take wickets. So, I think the way we’ve played spin has been good. I think there will be a big expectation for us to do that,” the Proteas skipper said.
“They obviously only have five bowlers, so they can, I guess, be put under pressure if one of their bowlers is not on their day. But yeah, I think you’ve got to probably respect their bowling attack a little bit more than the other bowling attacks. And understand that you’re going to have to play good cricket for longer periods,” he added.
The right-handed Proteas batter stated that his team would try to play two front-line spinners if the surface conditions allowed for some turn. In South Africa’s previous match, Keshav Maharaj spun a web to accelerate New Zealand collapse and finished with a figure of 4-46.
“Yeah, if the wicket assists the spinners, you’ll definitely see those two. And I mean, we saw why Keshav did the previous game. On the wicket they probably didn’t offer a great deal of spin but he was able to be super successful. We saw Tabraiz Shamsi as well in Chennai what he did coming off the bench,” Bavuma said.
“I think that the strength of our team has been around that, these guys coming off the bench and putting in the performances. I think there’s not any additional pressure on those two guys. They’ll just do what they’ve been doing and we’ll support and back them all the way,” he added. (ANI)
