South Africa captain Temba Bavuma believes it will be challenging for them to face the new ball Indian bowlers, who are known to swing the ball both ways. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Jasprit Bumrah can get the ball to swing and trouble the Proteas batters.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is known for his swing but he is a bit down on confidence as he hasn’t been right on the money in the recent past. Kumar was on the expensive side in the Asia Cup and also in the series against Australia. However, Kumar is not part of the series against South Africa.
Meanwhile, South Africa will look to get the much-needed game time under their belt before the T20 World Cup. The Proteas batters have the experience of playing in the Indian conditions because of the IPL ad they will be looking to make the most of it.
“Facing the new ball bowlers (in India) is quite challenging, they make the ball to swing and move in quite a bit, a bit more than what we are accustomed to in South Africa. That’s obviously a challenge you have to manoeuvre around,” the South African white-ball skipper said on the eve of the opening T20 here.
Bavuma feels it is imperative to keep wickets in hand and cautiously negate the threat which will be cause by Indian fast bowlers.
“The key is to limit the damage and not allow the wickets to fall and try and get the momentum going. But yeah, Bhuvi and Bumrah they always challenge you with the new ball up front,” he added.
Furthermore, Harshal Patel hasn’t been at his best since he returned from injury and he will look to get back into form.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will hold the key for India at the top of the order. Kohli recently returned back to form while Rohit also played a quickfire knock of 46 runs in the second T20I against Australia.
“Obviously, those — Rohit and Virat — are big names with big pedigree behind them, and obviously as you saw in their last while their performances have boosted the confidence of the team.
“We expect to come leading from the front, and good for us to come up against the best. You expect those guys to bring a lot of confidence and X-factor into the team,” the South African skipper said.
