When Temba Bavuma, the South Africa captain, walks out for his team’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 contest with England on Saturday afternoon, he would have realised his wish of playing at the Wankhede Stadium, the home ground of his idol Sachin Tendulkar.
Tendulkar, who hails from Mumbai, famously realised a dream of his own at the hallowed venue winning the ODI World Cup with India in 2011 when they beat Sri Lanka in a memorable finale.
“Yeah, I think for me, growing up, idolizing a guy like Sachin Tendulkar, Wankhede was a stadium you always heard about. So, to have that opportunity to be playing, that’s another tick off my list as a cricketer,” Bavuma said on the match eve.
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Bavuma says he’s those who have played at the Wankhede have talked about it dishing out batting friendly pitches in the past and is looking forward to the atmosphere come Saturday.
“The guys that have played here, JP Duminy, Quinton, they’ve spoken about how it can be a batter’s paradise. You get value for your shots and the ball seems to travel further,” Bavuma said.
“So, I think as batters it can build a lot of confidence. And if it is your day, you can fill your boots. And I guess just the atmosphere of it all, it being a full ground, it can really be something to enjoy,” he added.
Both England and South Africa head into contest after suffering surprise losses in their respective last fixtures,
Reigning champions England well beaten by Afghanistan and South Africa defeated by non-Test side the Netherlands.
Nevertheless, the 33-year-old Bavuma said: “I think it could be one hell of a game if you’ve got two teams of this calibre who play close to their best.”
‘X-factor Stokes’
England star Ben Stokes is set to play his first match of the tournament after the star all-rounder missed the first three games with a hip injury.
“A fully fit Ben Stokes obviously does strengthen the England team,” said Bavuma.
“He is an X-factor player, he’s the guy that can change the course of the game…There’s a lot respect for him, we know what he can do.”
South Africa were on course to make it three wins from three this World Cup when they reduced the Netherlands to 140-7 only for their opponents to finish on 245-8.
A target of 246 should still have been within range for the Proteas but they were dismissed for 207.
“We got them to 140-7 and then that’s where the wheels fell off,” said Bavuma.
“I think we were put under pressure in the death period. And I think how we’ve bowled within the death hasn’t been at our best.
“And then I think from a batting point of view, probably our biggest misdemeanour as the batters is that we took that negative energy from the field.
“So, I think there’s specific areas that we’ve identified that we want to be better at.”
With AFP Inputs
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