Temba Bavuma says the last few months have been the toughest from an injury point of view
South Africa’s white-ball skipper Temba Bavuma said his frustrations of being surrendered to the sidelines over the most recent three months were inferable from an elbow injury and he was away from the game for the last three months.
South Africa’s white-ball skipper Temba Bavuma said his frustrations of being surrendered to the sidelines over the most recent three months were inferable from an elbow injury.
Bavuma suffered the elbow thump in his group’s visit to India this June and was away from the game for the last three months.
However, he returns in time for South Africa’s visit through India again, for three T20Is and three ODIs, before heading to Australia for the World Cup.
“The last few months have been the toughest from an injury point of view,”
he explained.
“It was frustrating. Going through that period not knowing when I was going to recover with my elbow, was quite difficult mentally. But I’m here now, my elbow feels good, I opted against the surgery, but I’m excited and blessed to have the opportunity again to run out there for the Proteas.”
Bavuma would not look excessively far past and about what the post-Boucher time would resemble, yet felt the interesting brand of cricket that they’ve played recently won’t walk out of the door with Boucher.
“It’s difficult to look that far into the future,”
Bavuma said.
“We’re just focussed on the now at the moment and that is on the tour to India. The focus is also on filling the gaps that need to be filled in terms of preparation, also in terms of getting the guys into form leading up to the World Cup, and making sure we keep holding on to our confidence and belief as a unit. That’s where the focus is right now.”
“What happens after the World Cup is quite hard to talk about. In terms of the brand of play, I don’t see that changing. I think the language that we’ve been speaking as a team has been quite consistent over the last 18 months, so I don’t see that changing. The coach will leave, but his taste and brand on the team that is with us at the moment, that will continue,”
he added.
“We want to get the guys into form, most of them have been in form but guys like me, I’ve been out of action for the past three months so now I’m looking forward to that,”
Bavuma said.
“Personally, I just want to be out there on the park and use that opportunity to get game time, to get runs behind me, and to get the confidence back.
“There may be other guys as well not yet in the right form, so it’s about getting them to where they need to be. We also need to finalize that final XI. We have a good idea of what that team will look like, but also because conditions in India are different from those in Australia. So the side we probably play in Australia won’t necessarily be the one in India,”
he added.
