Temba Bavuma all set to end South Africa’s trophy drought in India

Temba Bavuma-led South Africa will tour India for a five-match T20I series, starting on June 9. The two sides will lock horns in 

 New Delhi, Cuttack, Rajkot, Bangalore and Visakhapatnam. KL Rahul will lead a Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja -less India. The likes of Deepak Chahar and Suryakumar Yadav are out because of injuries. 

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The Protea team have won and drawn their only two bilateral T20I series in India. They will be eyeing one more win. 

 “Even though India are resting their main players, it will still be a competitive series,” he said. “The guys in that squad can walk into the Indian team,” Bavuma said in an online press conference on Tuesday. 

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South Africa will bank on the likes of Quinton De Kock, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada, who had decent IPL 2022 runs. 

Miller finished the season with 481 runs in 16 innings. His side, the Gujarat Titans, won the tournament. Batting at No 5, the 32-year-old smashed 32 fours and 23 sixes. He averaged 68.71 at a strike rate of more than 142. 

“The confidence that he will bring into the team, we look forward to that. He has performed exceedingly well at the IPL and I’m sure that will do a world of good for his confidence and whatever feelings of insecurity that might be there. The conversations that I have had with David, he has never expressed those types of feelings to me,” the South African skipper spoke about Miller. 

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Youngster Dewald Brevis, who scored 161 runs in seven games for the Mumbai Indians, was not named in the South African squad. 

“In all fairness to him, he hasn’t played a first-class game. In terms of expectation but also to allow the boy to grow within his game, it would be fair to allow him to play a couple of first-class games where he can really get an understanding of his game. It will be a lot of pressure to throw him into the international set-up and expect him to make plays. He will be treated like any other exciting young prospect who comes onto the scene. He should be given time and space to hone his game within the system and ease into the international side of things.”