South Africa Captain Temba Bavuma participated in an optional training session on Monday at Eden Gardens after having some trouble in his hamstring, lending the team a positive lift three days before the high-octane World Cup semi-final matchup against Australia.
Bavuma hurt his hamstring last week in South Africa’s league match against Afghanistan in Ahmedabad. He departed the field after nine balls in the first innings. Four overs later, he came back, although he was hobbling when he fielded. He did not go off again, but he hobbled and gingerly chased balls, keeping in mind his responsibility as opening batsman and skipper of the team.
According to the reports in Espncricinfo, Temba Bavuma ran a few laps around the outfield before working out under the careful supervision of team physiotherapist Sizwe Hadebe and strength and conditioning coach Runeshan Moodley.
The Proteas skipper began doing shuttle runs, increasing the speed with each lap. He then began practicing forward and backwards running drills.
While running, Bavuma didn’t seem uneasy, but on other occasions, he did seem uneasy and stooped over with his hands by his sides. The South African skipper was seen with some strapping on his leg and South African team management will continue to monitor before taking a call on his participation in the marquee game against Australia.
“Temba’s right hamstring strain has shown good objective signs of improvement over the last 72 hours, We will continuously assess his progress through the management plan over the next few days towards giving him the best chance to play on Thursday.”
Temba Bavuma suited up and shadow-batted with a stump before having a long conversation with head coach Rob Walter. After a while, Bavuma watched No.3 batter Rassie van der Dussen batting in the nets, then put on some padding and went into a net to bat for about fifty minutes and departed in a private vehicle after the practice, maybe for a scan to know about the extent of the injury.
Aiden Markram is expected to captain South Africa in the semi-final if Bavuma is unable to play as he captained the side for the two games in the ongoing World Cup games against England and Bangladesh, when their regular skipper was ill, and Reeza Hendricks is likely to open the batting for the team if he misses out for the game.