SA vs NED: 'Temba Bavuma Is The Real Issue With South Africa' - Tom Moody Believes Better T20 Players Warming Bench

Tom Moody claims that Temba Bavuma‘s bad performance is “the elephant in the room” for South Africa following their shocking loss to Netherlands in the Super 12 round of the T20 World Cup.

Bavuma has scored 635 runs at a strike rate of 116.08 and an average of 22.67 in 33 T20Is. His performance had been questioned leading up to this World Cup, and as the tournament’s opener, he only managed to score 70 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 112.90. In the crucial match between South Africa and Netherlands, Bavuma scored a run-a-ball total of 20.

Temba Bavuma Is The Elephant In The Room: Tom Moody

“Without a doubt. That’s [Bavuma’s form] the elephant in the room. There’s better form players for this format sitting on the bench that should be playing on that side,” Moody said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out show.

“That will be a discussion, that has to be a discussion in South Africa’s review because you cannot afford to carry key personnel. Particularly at the top of the order. That is the critical point.”

Moody went on to compare Bavuma’s situation with that of Australia and Aaron Finch.

“They [Australia] had a similar issue. Once you have one wheel that’s not spinning like it should be spinning, it affects the direction you all go as a unit. That’s what was happening with South Africa. The rest were sort of covering up for a clear deficiency up top”.

Temba Bavuma Will Have A Very Hard Look At His Career: Robin Uthappa

Former India batter Robin Uthappa agreed with Moody’s assessment.

“Knowing Temba as a human being, I know that he’ll be reviewing his own career in T20 cricket very, very seriously after this,” Uthappa said.

“Because he is a high-quality Test batsman. Very accomplished Test batter. So he’ll probably have a very hard look at his career and which direction it moves forward. And so will South Africa.”

Also Read: IND vs ZIM: Team India Qualify For ICC T20 World Cup Semi-Final After Netherlands Beat South Africa