The captain of South Africa, Temba Bavuma, praised India’s depth of talent and said that although the visitors will miss Mohammed Shami, the hosts may face pressure from his replacement.
Prior to this, South Africa and India leveled the T20I series 1-1, while the Men in Blue won the three-match ODI series 2-1. So now the stage is set for the much-awaited two-match test series, starting with the boxing day test match on December 26 at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Due to a heel injury, experienced bowler Mohammed Shami will not play in the two-match Test series that. Mukesh Kumar or Prasidh Krishna might take Shami’s place in the starting lineup.
“Whoever comes in place of Shami will also put South Africa under pressure”-Temba Bavuma
Temba Bavuma was questioned over the influence of Shami’s absence on the series during a pre-game press conference. He stated in response to a question from PTI that Mohammed Shami is among the greatest currently active players, and most of us would be excited to face him.
“As cricketers you want to come up against the best and Mohammed Shami is one of the best going around and most of us would be looking forward to coming up against him. But India being India, and with the depth that they have, you have to trust that whoever comes in will also put you under pressure,” Temba Bavuma elabortaed.
While the Proteas will have the home edge, Temba Bavuma continued, India will still be formidable without Shami, citing their achievements in the last ten years as evidence. He added that hosts can’t take Team India’s bowling attack, which is still quite strong, and hosts will not take them lightly.
“Being home conditions, we understand the advantage our side has, you will expect us to adapt a lot better and Indian bowling attack is quite a strong one and obviously Shami is not there but it’s still a strong one. The fact that they have been able to achieve so much success in Tests over the past 5-10 years period is because of that bowling attack,” the 33-year-old commented,” Bavuma commented.
“We’re still trying to figure out how it emerges”-Bavuma on South Africa’s brand of cricket
Nonetheless, Temba Bavuma acknowledged that playing the Indian team is going to be a different challenge as there are so many eyeballs involved around the world. He added that the Proteas are still refining the kind of cricket they wish to play.
“We understand playing India comes with challenges as there are more eyeballs involved. South Africa recently played an attractive brand of ODI cricket during the World Cup. In terms of brand, there has definitely been talk about it, not just now but also during the West Indies series. We are still trying to see how it looks like,” Bavuma further added.
India and South Africa will play the New Year Test at Newlands in Cape Town from January 3–7, following the Centurion Test.