Temba Bavuma Set to Lead South Africa in Test Series Against India

Temba Bavuma is all set to return as captain in the test squad of Proteas. He will lead the national side in the upcoming two-match test series against India. This will be the first international series for Bavuma after recovering from a calf strain. He missed the recently concluded Pakistan test series in which Aiden Markram led the team as a stand-in captain. The visitors showcased a strong performance in the series, as they won the second test match at Rawalpindi by 8 wickets.

Temba Bavuma will first feature in the South Africa A side that will take on India A in a first-class game at Bengaluru. He has come into the South Africa squad by replacing David Bedingham, who is a specialist middle-order batter.

The head coach of South Africa praised the performance of all players who participated in the recently concluded Pakistan test series. He said that selecting these players again for the India tests looked like a straightforward call, as their recent outing in Pakistan was quite exceptional.

"The guys that did duty in Pakistan in the Test matches have shown what they're capable of, and a case can be made for all of them to be re-selected. The reason why they got selected ahead of David was because I feel that in these conditions they'll be more effective," said Shukri Conrad.

He explained David Bedingham’s omission by saying that being left out of the upcoming tour does not mean it’s the end of the road for the batter. He further added that the team currently needs a combination that can perform well in the sub-continent conditions, hence David has been left out of the squad.

"It doesn't mean that it's the end of the road for David. It wasn't so long ago that he was one of our star performers at Lord's so really horses-for-courses. For what we're potentially going to face, I believe the guys that we got are ahead of David in that respect.” said Shukri Conrad.

The coach said that leaving anyone out of the squad is never easy. However, tough decisions often have to be made to maintain the balance of the team.

"You leave a player out and it's never easy, especially if they've done as well as they have done. But again, I've got to take the emotion out of all of it. We've made some tough decisions along the way so every time you make a decision like that, it's particularly tough, but you've got to take the emotion out of it.” said Shukri Conrad.

He then explained the selection process by saying that players are picked on the basis of particular tour conditions. He gave the example of the Indian and Pakistan surfaces where spin plays a big role during the matches. According to him, the current set of players are better equipped to play in those conditions, hence they have been selected in the squad.

"You basically look at the raw facts and say, 'right, what do we believe is going to be effective on these surfaces? And who best to stack up against said opposition on those surfaces,' you know? And look, in eight months' time, however long, when we play a Test match back home again, I'm sure David will be in that line-up. But purely for Pakistan and India, what we're expecting, the guys that we've selected, we believe, are better equipped." said Shukri Conrad.

After defeating Pakistan in the last test match at Rawalpindi, South Africa is confident that they can repeat the same heroics in the upcoming matches against India. The highly anticipated test series is slated to start from November 14, in which the first test will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.