ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Mark Boucher Is Still Hoping To Get Temba Bavuma Back Into Form For The T20 World Cup
Published - 12 Oct 2022, 04:30 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:14 AM
Temba Bavuma will be given every opportunity to regain form and confidence before the T20 World Cup, with outgoing Proteas head coach Mark Boucher hoping that the faster and bouncier conditions in Australia will be more conducive to his batting style.
The Proteas T20 skipper was snubbed at South Africa’s inaugural SA20 auction and his form in India hasn’t helped with critics saying he simply isn’t a T20 player.
Bavuma has come under increasing pressure as a result of his poor performance and Reeza Hendricks’ outstanding batting performance, which has raised concerns about whether he should continue to start for the national T20 team despite being captain.
Given the stress the Proteas limited overs captain has been experiencing lately, Boucher argued that Bavuma’s illness prevented him from playing in the final two One Day Internationals of the series against India.
Bavuma has played in 20 games as captain since last year, averaging just 18.58, and his strike rate of 106.04 is woefully insufficient for the demands of the T20 format.
“We’ll try to get him back up”: Mark Boucher
Mark Boucher expressed sympathy for Bavuma and said that He is the Captain, and we treat him as such.
“We’ll try to get back him and running again and gets into the nets and hopefully give him a knock or two before the World cup starts and see where he is at. He is the Captain, and we treat him as such.”
South Africa has a dismal track record in international competitions, having never won a World Cup or advanced to the final in either the 50-over or Twenty20 formats. Based on the net run rate, they were denied a spot in the T20 World Cup semifinals last year. If they want to improve upon their previous best of qualifying for the T20 World Cup, they will need their captain Bavuma to start scoring runs.
Also Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Marco Jansen Named As Dwaine Pretorius’ Replacement For T20 World Cup
