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South Africa National Cricket Team captain Temba Bavuma equalled former Team India captain MS Dhoni's record in the ongoing ODI series against Australia. Today (September 27), in the second ODI of the three-match series between South Africa and Australia, Temba Bavuma matched Dhoni's record by scoring a century.
There are not too many captains who scored a century in the One Day Internationals against Australia. In fact, there are very few home captains as well who scored at least one century across any ground in the nation against the Aussies.
Scoring a century in ODIs against Australia is always considered something special because of the nature of the pitches. Most of the South African pitches are known to help the fast bowlers with extra bounce and pace.
Temba Bavuma scores another ODI century against Australia
Australia were trailing by 1-0 when they walked into the Wanderers Stadium in Sandton today, for the second match of the series. The Aussies began the match strongly with the ball, by taking the wicket of Aiden Markram. On the very first ball of the match, Aussie pacer Josh Hazlewood took Markram's wicket. The other half of the opening pair, Quinton de Kock, also departed after a brief knock.
Bavuma came out to bat at the moment when his team was in deep trouble. Bavuma not only helped his team recover from the early blows, but also took the team to the point where scoring 300 runs was not very far. Bavuma departed after scoring 103 runs off 116 balls with ten 4s and two 6s. From 36 for 2 to when Bavuma lost his wicket to Jack Edwards, South Africa was on 249/4.
Later, a century from David Miller's bat strengthened South Africa's position against Australia in this match.
Temba Bavuma surpasses Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers
Bavuma, as soon as he touched the 100-run mark, surpassed AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith in the list of South African captains to score an ODI Century against Australia. Smith and Villiers had one century each as captain, while Bavuma now has two. Faf du Plessis is top of the list for scoring three centuries against Australia in ODIs.
South Africa Captains to Score an ODI Century vs Australia
2006 - Graeme Smith (Centurion)
2014 - AB de Villiers (Harare)
2016 - Faf du Plessis (Johannesburg)
2018 - Faf du Plessis (Hobart)
2019 - Faf du Plessis (Manchester)
2023 - Temba Bavuma (Bloemfontein)
2026 - Bavuma (Johannesburg)*
Temba Bavuma touches MS Dhoni's record against Australia
Overall, Faf du Plessis holds the record for scoring the most number of ODI centuries against Australia as a captain. Virat Kohli has also smashed three tons. Bavuma, MS Dhoni, Babar Azam and Stephen Fleming are the other leading captains in the record book, as all of them registered 2 centuries each against Australia in the One Day International format.
Most ODI Centuries vs Australia as a Captain
3 - Faf du Plessis
3 - Virat Kohli
2 - Temba Bavuma*
2 - Babar Azam
2 - MS Dhoni
2 - Stephen Fleming
