The return of Temba Bavuma will serve as a huge boost for South Africa following their drawn Test series in Pakistan where Aiden Markram served as stand-in captain.
As a matter of protocol, the regular Test captain underwent a fitness drill under the supervision of the team’s support staff and head coach Conrad Shukri at Eden Gardens on Wednesday morning.
Having successfully completed the drills, Bavuma joined the nets session. He had showed glimpses of his return to fitness with a composed 59 off 101 balls in the second innings after a first-ball duck for South Africa A in Bengaluru.
Conrad hailed Bavuma as the team’s key player and said their drawn series in Pakistan without him was a massive boost.
“Temba’s massive for us, he’s our best player. It’s as simple as that, which makes winning a Test match in Pakistan so much better for us, that we were able to do it without our best player,” Conrad said.
“So a lot of feel-good, a lot of confidence. And if you take the last two years maybe, he’s been one of the best players in the world. So his record speaks for itself.
“The calmness he brings to the batting unit, his leadership, his quiet demeanour. We get a lot of feel-good from that and he certainly brings a lot of confidence,” Conrad said.
“And we’re thrilled that he got through the ‘A’ game as well as he did. I remember speaking to him after the first or second day after his first-ball duck. We were hoping that he’d get some time out in the middle of the second innings, which he did.”