Temba Bavuma has the "heart of a giant." That's the compliment the South Africa captain received from team head coach Shukri Conrad following the Proteas' remarkable come-from-behind 30-run win in the Eden Test.
The head coach's words were in response to a query on the unflattering term of 'dwarf' used by India keeper-batter and vice-captain Rishabh Pant and pacer Jasprit Bumrah while referring to the diminutive Bavuma in the first morning of the just-concluded Test.
The Proteas had brushed that matter aside then. For Bavuma, though, the best way to respond was to let his bat do the talking. And after a disappointing first innings, his determination to graft it out and remain unconquered on 55, alongside stitching a crucial 54-run eighth-wicket partnership with Corbin Bosch, played a role almost as important as that of off-spinner Simon Harmer’s eight-wicket match haul in South Africa's first Test win on Indian soil in 15 years. It's a victory "right up there with the World Test Championship crown", coach Shukri said.
There certainly couldn’t have been a better retort to such unflattering terms.
Critics say Bavuma isn’t flamboyant enough. Some of them even go to the extent of calling him a stroke-less wonder even after he led the Proteas to the WTC title. But no matter who says what, Bavuma, being the only half-centurion of the Eden Test, showed how to bat in difficult conditions.
It’s Bavuma’s defence that acts as a counterpunch to the opposition. “From a spin point of view, it (the pitch) was tricky, a little bit on the extreme side.
“I found it a bit tricky to trust the bounce of the wicket. Some balls were bouncing nicely, while others kept low, so that was a bit tricky, which made cross-batted shots a bit harder. But look, I'm a guy who always backs my defence.
“I think my game is that simple. I try to play around my defence,” the skipper, still unbeaten as captain in Tests, said.
In terms of captaincy, barring a bit of delay in bringing in use Aiden Markram’s off-spin, Bavuma got almost everything right — the bowling changes and field placements. He also ensured off-spinner Harmer was brought early into the attack.
More importantly, his inspirational leadership also helped his teammates believe that they could defend a 124-run target.
However, Bavuma and his teammates kept believing. “Disillusioned, you know what I mean? Because, it's not every day you feel that 124 is a defendable total. But we had to believe. We knew it was tough. But we took confidence from the fact that we were able to put them under pressure with the ball in the first innings,” Bavuma said.
