Bavuma Delighted as de Kock Returns to South Africa’s ODI Squad

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma is excited to have Quinton de Kock back in the ODI squad. He praised de Kock’s decision to reverse his retirement, which was recently revealed when South Africa announced its squads for the Pakistan tour. The captain, however, claimed that the return of de Kock would not be easy, as multiple youngsters have performed well at the international level during his absence.

For the unversed, South Africa won the last two ODI series against Australia and England recently. In both tours, South Africa found many young stars capable of performing well at the international level. This has intensified competition within the squad, as multiple batters have delivered match-winning performances for South Africa in recent series.

"I'm a little bit biased when it comes to Quinton. I grew up playing with Quinton from school cricket. So the fact that he is back, I'm as excited as a lot of fans out there. I think there's quite a lot of batters, young batters especially, who have put up their names. So he is obviously going to have to do what he needs to do from a run-scoring point of view,” said Temba Bavuma.

He further said that Quinton de Kock also understands the competition that is brewing within the squad. He is therefore more committed to perform well on the return, as the team is now packed with many strong batters having loads of experience.

"I don't think he is oblivious to that. It's not the case that he is getting an easy pass into the team. But I think it's a case of, from where he has been in the abyss, per se, watching into the team, he wants to be a part of what has been created within the team," said Temba Bavuma.

The captain also revealed that de Kock spoke to him in early January this year, hinting at his desire to return to the national setup. Though he didn’t make the decision quickly, but gave it a serious thought after analyzing various things.

"I chatted to him earlier this year, in January, just before we were going to the Champions Trophy. And there he started kind of throwing out the fact that he would like to be available. Before he went and spoke to Shukri [Conrad, South Africa head coach], he spoke to me. He made it clear that that's what he would like to do. And we will support him,” said Temba Bavuma.

Speaking about the upcoming tests, Temba Bavuma acknowledged the spin challenge they will face in the Pakistan matches. He said that Pakistan has selected five spinners, which means they will come hard at us by making full use of their spin resources.

"Pakistan selected five spinners into their squad, so that really shows you what type of conditions the guys will be faced with there," Bavuma said. "Guys are back home now, busy with their preparation. So we'll leave no stone unturned. We've been to Pakistan before. The Champions Trophy - yes, those were good wickets. But we are familiar with the place,” said Temba Bavuma.

After the Pakistan tour, South Africa will head to India, where they will once again face a similar type of challenge. The South African captain said that these conditions will bring the best out of his team, as they are familiar with the grounds and have played there before.

"After that will be India. There's Sri Lanka as well. So there's a lot more of the subcontinent tours that we're going to have to overcome the challenge. And then something a little bit more familiar back home with Australia and England. But then again, those are strong teams," said Temba Bavuma.

South Africa is slated to participate in a multi-format series in Pakistan starting from October 12. Temba is optimistic that his side will do well on this tour as compared to the last one. It would be interesting to see how they will manage the spin challenge, as Pakistan is reportedly preparing rank turners to get an edge over the Proteas.