Where was Temba Bavuma? | Cricbuzz.com » Today Latest Stories

Where was the captain? He was last on the field in action on Tuesday, the 20th day of the first Test. Left with a hamstring strain. He’s not the same guy who was injured during the World Cup, so let’s not raise theories about him playing injured. But surely, by all means of driving, he should have been padded into the dugout when South Africa’s ninth wicket fell to Centurion on Thursday.

It wasn’t, and so Marco Janssen had to leave behind the best innings of his Test career, a bittersweet 16 runs shy of a first century. so what? It’s a team game, remember? In fact, the captain’s side had to abandon runs on a pitch that would have remained good for batting for the rest of the third day’s match – leaving India to score instead, which could have affected the course of the match.

It didn’t happen. The home side’s players put in an impressive performance, even by their towering standards, to seal victory within three days – South Africa’s first single-run win over India since December 2010. Where? at Centurion Castle, where they were beaten just three times in 29 Tests; Including India in December 2021.

The second and final Test begins at Newlands on Wednesday. Even if India wins, they will return home defeated. Their final frontier, a winning streak in this country, remains a looming edifice yet to be breached.

There was much for South Africa to celebrate, but not everything. For example, the team captain’s hamstring injury, and what that could mean for Cape Town. Shukri Konrad has confirmed that Bavuma is out of the second Test and his injury will be assessed in a fortnight to see if he will be fit for SA20, which starts on January 10. Dean Elgar, who stepped in at the break in Bavuma’s absence and followed that up with a fluent 185, captained the side in his final Test. Zubair Hamza has been called up to the squad to replace Bavuma.

Finally, direct answers were obtained. But not before the void surrounding Bavuma’s status has been filled with all sorts of conjecture. His critics do not need a second invitation to join the Bavuma-bashing bandwagon at the best of times. They had enough opportunity to do so in this case, and this time they had a decent argument.

The Centurion surface sweltered under the covers for 40 hours while 51mm of rain fell in the 36 hours before the scheduled start of the match. Then two days of significant cloud cover were added to the already grueling challenge of beating the Highveld. Thursday dawned bright and almost transparent, and the sun did its best to level the field to its best for hitting. But as of Friday, based on the evidence of previous Centurion tests, the rebound will become unreliable.

Only eight of the other 28 Tests completed at this ground reached the fourth innings. The team won by six strokes, but they had to score 150 or more runs on the final day – or what became the final day – only twice.

Bavuma had played nine first-class matches for Centurion before Tuesday, six of which were Tests. He would have known all of the above and more. Why wasn’t he moved, if necessary, down the 48 stairs leading from the players’ balcony to the border? Had that happened, once Nandre Burger had been undone and throttled by Jasprit Bumrah’s scintillating brilliance in the ninth over after lunch, Bavuma could have been helped all the way to the non-striker’s end. All he had to do in this case was stand there.

Because that’s what leaders do. That’s what Graeme Smith, famously, did with a broken hand and injured elbow at the SCG in January 2009. In an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to tie a game in a series South Africa had already won. Smith was out in the whites of Jacques Kallis because his side was packed – he was not supposed to bat in the second innings. Why was there so much question this time? His colleague Smith, who joined in the middle of that day in Sydney almost 15 years ago, had a similar question.

“Themba should have done it,” Makhaya Ntini said. com. cricbuzz. “Graeme Smith did that. That should tell you that the captain doesn’t just think about himself. He thinks about the team. If Janssen had hit the 90s, Temba should have batted. The most important thing is to show that you appreciate what ‘other guys are doing.’ that. If Timba had done that, he would have been a hero. He could have come and stood at one end and let Janssen do his work. “I have no idea why that didn’t happen.”

No one else did, and not out of a desire to try to figure it out. The team’s management told reporters on Tuesday that x-rays revealed the sprain and that Bavuma “will undergo daily medical evaluations to determine the extent of his participation in the match.”

Despite numerous attempts by the press and SuperSport, the CSA rights holders, to obtain updates, there were no further updates until after tea on Thursday – after Ntini had spoken – when management said: “Following ongoing medical assessments, it has been decided that there are of information.” “There is a risk of aggravating his injury if he goes out to bat at this stage of the game. The medical team is managing him to give him the best opportunity to bat if necessary in the fourth inning.”

Why did it take so long to come out? It appears that withholding information was part of the game plan. “Temba is not in good physical condition,” Conrad said. “He was ready to strike at every turn, and we kept watching him. I put something there… I don’t know if the opponent noticed it or not… Some things are tactical.

“When we got where we got to (the 163 difference), not that we felt that was enough, we felt that if we sent it in, there would be a potential risk that it would aggravate the injury further.

“We always give ourselves maximum time so that we can provide the right information. Sometimes, if I post things too soon, people run away with certain stories. It was all about monitoring them throughout the day.

“If we had lost the wicket early, he probably would have come in at some stage. But it went well for us. We even got a message to Marco and Nandri to do every run. Because the talk last night was about being 150 runs ahead.” “…Then we were able to control the game. We got there, and then I felt it was not necessary to risk Timba. That was entirely my decision.”

And he was justified, as it turned out. India collapsed to 131 runs in 34.1 overs against the pace attack as the afternoon’s drama unfolded under a rising mass of dark clouds.

The Indians failed to create a single partnership that endured more runs or balls than the 39 shared by Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli’s 51, and that despite three balls falling into the cordon. All that stood between the visitors and the bigger dugout was Kohli’s class and determination. But even he had a breaking point, and he reached it with nine players in when he lifted Burger to the ground and into the darkness.

Kagiso Rabada cut several meters off long-on, dropped and stuck to complete the fourth wicket for the fiery, fearless Berger and dismissed Kohli for 76. Elgar, converging on the same spot from long-on but beaten to the ball by the superior athlete, was the first to celebrate the catch and victory with Rabada.

Behind their backs, the most boisterous section of the crowd, as the brass band serenaded Elgar with a rousing rendition of ‘Forever Young’ after his run-out throw from deep to Rabada off Bumrah to reduce India to 113/8, erupted with hilarity.

They were all suspended to allow Elgar, a commemorative torso in hand, to climb those 48 stairs first. Indeed his horn seemed wrapped in glory. The fairy tale has already been written about his success at Newlands. Bavuma greeted Elgar at the top of the stairs. It may be said that he was standing.