South Africa batter Temba Bavuma said that the lack of red-ball cricket hampered their preparation for the series against India. On the third day of the first test, South Africa was bowled out for 197 as they conceded the lead of 130 to the visitors.
Bavuma was the top scorer (52) for the Proteas as the right-handed batter scored 16th fifty in the longest format. It was quite an eventful day at Centurion as a total of 18 wickets had fallen in the day.
“I do not want to be accused of making excuses for our play but that (not playing does have an impact. If you look at the way we played on the first day, I do not believe that is the standard and the intensity that we can play at. And one of the factors is the lack of match practice. You can have as many nets as you want, but nothing simulates going out in the middle,” Bavuma said.
“There is not much we can do as players, but there is that disparity in the number of games. We have to find a way mentally to meet the challenge,” he added further.
South Africa hasn’t played a Test series since June when the proteas beat West Indies by 2-0 in 2-match series. South Africa hadn’t a great start to the home season as they could pick only 3 wickets on the first day against Virat Kohli & Co. However they made a fine comeback on the third day by dismissing the remaining 7 wickets in just 55 runs. Though their batting couldn’t back it up.
Bavuma also praised Mohammed Shami whose fifer broke the back of South Africa batting line-up. The Indian pacer also completed his 200 wickets in his Test career.
“Shami is a world-class bowler, we have seen him do it around the world so I do not think it is something we did not expect. As batters, we have to front up and back our defence as much as we can. If he bowls a good ball, credit to him. Indian bowlers were able to exploit the conditions, especially led by Shami. We want to cut out the soft dismissals,” Bavuma said.
On the fourth day, India will resume their innings at 16/1 as they already have a lead of 146 runs.
Also, read Mohammed Shami Credits His Success To His Father And Brother