South African cricket team is set to kick off their ICC T20 World Cup 2022 on 24 October against one of the qualifiers from group stage and then will be facing India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and second qualifying team. Proteas had good run in last tournament played in UAE where team managed to register 4 victories in played 5 match and yet to reach to the semifinals.
Temba Bavuma’s side will be looking to make themselves qualify for knockout stage this time in Australia. South Africa team is having young cricketers like Marco Jansen, Janneman Malan, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius and many others who can turn around the match with good senior players in the lineup including Miller, Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, Keshav Maharaj and Quinton de Kock.
“The journey is still young with the white-ball teams, I must say. But I’ve enjoyed it so far. I was fortunate in that most of the guys, especially the senior guys, I’ve played with from school level. We understand each other and, most importantly, the respect is there,” Bavuma said in a recent interview to Betway.
“We’re fortunate that we have several legends of the past who I can call upon, too. JP Duminy was in the T20 management camp and he added to the brains of the team. He has a great brain and I bounced ideas off him. I spend a lot of time with KG [Rabada] on and off the field. Shamo [Tabraiz Shamsi] and Quinton [de Kock], too. These are important players to have good relationships with as a captain.”
Bavuma is the first ever black captain for South Africa and he gets lot of inspiration from his senior team mates like Hashim Amla who adapted his batting style as per the need of game and format. Bavuma is having similar kind of batting nature, hence he take lot of motivation from him and don’t follow much of Miller style who can smash the ball from start of innings.
“My skillset is not the same as a guy who comes in at the back of the innings, like David Miller. David generally has to be able to hit sixes from ball one. That isn’t my role in the side – I know what my strengths are. I take a lot of inspiration from Hashim Amla. When he first came into the system he wasn’t considered a classic T20 player but he was able to adapt his game.”
Captaincy would be a great test during the t20 world cup and Bavuma is ready for it as he loves to get mentally prepared for the challenges.
“It can be a challenge to combine the two, but you have to make sure that you’re mentally fresh. The captaincy can clutter your mind. It can be easy to play the game in your head and you don’t want that. It’s so important to be clear with your plans and clear with what you want to do. Then anything else can just be discarded.”
The 8th edition of ICC Twenty20 world cup will be held in Australia from 16 October to 13 November.