The South African white-ball captain Temba Bavuma has said that the South African batsmen are used to playing the fast bowlers while coming through the ranks in domestic cricket back home because of the bouncy pitches that they have in South Africa, but no batsman in the world likes to face bowlers who can bowl at the speed of over 150 kph.
Temba Bavuma was asked about the new Indian pace sensation Umran Malik in the pre-tour press conference before he flew to India for the 5-match T20I series and Bavuma admitted that Umran is a very, very exciting prospect for Indian cricket and the kind of speeds he cranks up, it won’t be easy for the South African batsmen to face him.
Umran Malik finished in the top 5 leading wicket-takers in the recently finished IPL 2022 as he got a total of 22 wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 14 league games, but it’s not just the number of wickets that he got, the manner in which he got them and the way he rushed some quality international batsmen with his speed, it caught the attention of the Indian selectors, as he was called up for the series against South Africa.
One of the other reasons Umran has been called up is also the fact that the senior bowlers of the Indian team have been given a break after the IPL.
South Africa doesn’t have the luxury to rest players: Temba Bavuma
When Temba Bavuma was asked if South Africa could also have considered resting some of their players for this T20I series, he said South Africa doesn’t really have the luxury to rest as many players as they want, as India has. India might have rested three or four of their players, but they still have other in-form players as replacements.
For South Africa, they want its main players to play regularly because the T20 World Cup is not too far away and the preparation for the tournament has to start already.
