Captaincy is not solely about strategy, it is also about wisdom. In his acclaimed coaching manual, , Don Bradman put it down aptly. “A good captain must be a fighter: confident but not arrogant, firm but not obstinate, able to take criticism without letting it unduly disturb him, for he is sure to get it – and unjustly too,” he wrote.
Several decades later it turned out to be prophetic for Temba Bavuma. A picture of the devastated South Africa captain sitting alone in the Kingsmead dugout after his first defeat in 13 Tests was widely circulated on social media.
As he tried to fathom the circumstances, he also vowed to be “better prepared” and described the loss as a “rude awakening” moment.
Pat Cummins’s men had just not resorted to sledging with taunts like “chokers” during the high-stakes moments in Durban, but the maligning continued even later.
Bavuma was targeted and trolled by Travis Head, who posted a cheeky video on his Instagram story mocking him hours after Australia won the opening Test of their recently concluded series.
The start to the second Test in Gqeberha was disastrous too. Bavuma walked in at 12/2 on the first morning, staved off a Scott Boland hat-trick, saw his side slip to 40/4 and then 110/6, but led a rearguard action to stop the slide.
Bavuma, 36, isn’t new to such jibes. The first African batter in South Africa’s Test squad, who hails from Langa, a township in Cape Town, is made of sterner stuff. Born three months after Nelson Mandela left Victor Verster Prison, he has proved to be an anomaly in the strife-torn, drug-infested township.
To be part of such a sneering campaign is not new for the soft-spoken captain. He was termed “” by the Indians at Eden Gardens in a series which South Africa had India in a spin. Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant, though, apologised to him for the incident after the Test following the outrage.
The 5-foot-4 Bavuma has always preferred to answer such toxicity with the bat. His team ended their 25-year wait for a Test series win on Indian soil with a 2-0 victory. He admitted such moments serve as strong “fuel and motivation” for him.
South Africa didn’t have to wait long against Australia too, as Bavuma had his hold-my-beer moment at St George’s Park in the second Test. His match-winning, nine-hour-long 179 will remain a defining innings in Test history.
An incredible feat of skill, resilience and character which served as an inspiration as Australia buckled under pressure.
In this age of T20 franchise cricket, he showed traits which are unmatched in the dwindling format. South Africa’s first black captain’s unflappable demeanour and super-smart attitude can leave any team flustered and frustrated.
His knock in the second Test made an emphatic statement, along with a table-turning 132-run partnership with Marco Jansen (85) and then 183 with Simon Harmer (82), which left Australia awestruck.
He overcame the survival period showing immense concentration and patience besides an astute game plan. But never did he allow the Australian pace quartet to settle into a rhythm with constant rotation of strike.
A brilliant counterattack left Cummins’s men clueless after Lunch on the third day. An imperious pull along the ground for four off Cummins brought about his century as if
to dismiss the rival captain’s threat.
The inspirational innings sparked fresh hopes in South Africa’s arsenal while singeing Australia’s challenge. Cummins’s men could never recover from the threat and it showed in their collapses in Durban and Cape Town.
“Sometimes as a team we forget that the target is on our back and everyone wants to have a go at us. Everyone wants us to show our mettle as the current world champions, and everything that we do is under the microscope,” Bavuma said. “Our performance in Durban was a realisation of that, but also a realisation of what it means coming up against super strong opposition.”
If the Sandpapergate scandal in 2018 forced Australia to make ethical and structural changes in their set-up, this time Bavuma has triggered an overhaul of their team composition.
Bavuma’s biggest moment will come a year later if he can exorcise the ghost of the 2003 World Cup, when they failed to make the Super Six at home following a fatal miscalculation of the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method.
Bavuma is a fighter, confident but not arrogant. He has forged a formidable combination with coach Shukri Conrad, through which they are desperately trying to shed the ‘chokers’ tag.
The World Test Championship title was the first indication of a turnaround and Bavuma’s men have shown that it was no fluke. With another WTC final almost assured, they are destined for bigger things.