Kolkata: In a match building up to be a titanic clash between the South African batters and Indian bowlers, Protean skipper Temba Bavuma will be putting his best bet out – keeping it simple and putting up an A game, in a bid to win against all the odds and the hype in India's home.
"You respect the strength and the threats that they (Indian bowlers) bring. It's a world-class bowling attack in their condition. We're going to have to have our A game up come tomorrow. We will stick to our processes, prepare as well as we can. We will make sure that we're not surprised by anything and get ourselves into a space where we can play our best cricket,” Bavuma said at his pre-match presser at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.
The match has garnered immense interest which has managed to get bigger than any India-Pakistan clash in cricket. “It’s an important one coming up against India who are an in-form side. We are an in-form too and we look forward to the opportunity to test our skills against this Indian team,” Bavuma said.
Bavuma who his yet to speak with bat in a big way in this tournament has been looking to make a meaningful contribution to his team. What bigger and appropriate occasion that would be if it happens against India.
"The other batters are smashing it at the moment. I take comfort in the fact that I've been involved in some partnerships with Quinton (de Kock) up front. Obviously, you want to extend it. I guess from my side, it's just one of those patches again where you're kind of scratching, but I think you've got to keep that belief that the opportunity will be there for me to make a big play within the team,” Bavuma said.
South Africa, a team desperate to win their first World Cup and finally shed the jinx that they have been fighting at crucial moments in summit tournaments, are in a happy space till now, their strategy being hit out in the first 10 overs more with the bat than the ball, have taken it game by game, "staying as present as we can".
As the noise around the team has grown, skipper Bavuma has tried to "control our spaces within the team" and instead of being overawed by all the attention and the expectation within and without, "draw energy from the positive sentiment floating in and around the team."
"It is hard for us to keep going as underdogs, but in terms of the team, everything still stays the same. We don't see ourselves any different. We'll still take it day by day, game by game," Bavuma said about the upcoming big Sunday, their biggest, against the unbeaten Indian side.
The belief, the confidence and the journey of South Africa in this tournament has fuelled the unit's aim of getting to the end. "We're getting closer and closer to that. The performances we've put up have strengthened us from within. We've taken note of what’s happening outside the team, the performances and success of the Rugby team back home, and the positive energy that we've gotten from those as well. Having said that, we still want to stay a lot more drawn to each other as a team, control what we can control within the team, regulate our emotions as much as we can and make sure we're in the best space possible to play our best cricket," he said.
Such has been the dream run of the Proteans that the tag of eternal chokers has long been buried under a pile of runs and a mountain of performances. "Choke? I don't know how to answer that. 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 would choke,” he said with a certain amount of chagrin.
Indeed, it’s two in-form teams that will be coming up against each other tomorrow and it's just a matter of who breaks first and who's able to exploit that moment or weakness that will be the deciding factor.
"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, I haven't heard that word (chokers) come up as of yet in training," he asserted.
South Africa, who have acquired or, should one say, earned the reputation of being the tournament’s biggest master-blasters, would this time be meeting on the Eden pitch which has recorded first innings of around 245 and second innings, 206. "We believe that with the makeup of our team, we can get any score that we can,” Bavuma asserted in quiet confidence.
The skipper, however, is mindful of the fact that Eden won't be like the quick scoring ground of Delhi where the 428/5 record was constructed at a furious pace by the Proteas. "Here, we might have to graft a lot more. You might have to hit a lot more balls on the ground. But all of that will happen tomorrow. We won't go in today with too many preconceived ideas,” he said.
Talking about the emerging battle between bat and spin, Bavuma acknowledges the middle over striking abilities of Kuldeep Yadav and the quiet confidence with which Ravindra Jadeja goes through his spells.
“Kuldeep Yadav has been taking wickets in the middle, in conjunction with (Ravindra) Jadeja. So, they've been key to the middle phase. We've played spin quite well as a team over the last couple of years. So, it'll be a good test for us batters as to how we come up against that challenge of (Kuldeep) Yadav and (Ravindra) Jadeja," he said.
Acknowledging that "you don't get a lot of bad balls from the three-up front," and that "(Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammed) Siraj, as well as (Mohammed) Shami are guys who can exploit anything with that new ball be it swing or nip," he said with that come opportunities to score too. Nothing other than being on "your A game with that new ball and there being a big expectation for us to play spin well," will get them against the Rubicon.
India's "only” five-bowler combination has given Bavuma hope. "They can be put under pressure if one of their bowlers is not on their day. You've got to respect their bowling attack a little bit more than the other bowling attacks and play good cricket for longer periods," he added.
Eden Gardens is a historic venue for Temba Bavuma and his unit because 10 of their players have debuted on this ground. "If the wicket assists spinners, you'll definitely see (Keshav) Maharaj. We saw what Keshav did in the previous game. We saw Tabraiz Shamsi as well in Chennai showing what he did coming off the bench,” Bavuma pointed out.
“The strength of our team has been around that, these guys coming off the bench and putting in performances. There's no 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 concluded.
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