Boucher departure adds to World Cup motivation, says Bavuma
Proteas captain Temba Bavuma says he is relishing the opportunity to visit India and then Australia over the coming two months.
South Africa leave for a six-match tour to India on Friday where they will face the hosts in three Twenty20 Internationals and three One-Day Internationals.
They will then head straight to Australia for the T20 World Cup.
Bavuma has been out since picking up an elbow injury in June, a blow that forced him to miss the Proteas’ tour to the United Kingdom.
He says the immediate objective is to get everyone firing for the World Cup, where they are scheduled to face India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and two yet-to-be-determined teams in Group 2.
“We want to get the guys into form, most of them have been in form but guys like me, I’ve been out of action for the past three months so now I’m looking forward to that.
“Personally, I just want to be out there on the park and using that opportunity to get game time, to get runs behind me and to get the confidence back.
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“There may be other guys as well not yet in the right form, so it’s about getting them to where they need to be at. We also need to finalise that final XI. We have a good idea of what that team will look like, but also considering the fact that conditions in India are different to those in Australia. So the side we probably play in Australia won’t necessarily be the one in India.”
Bavuma also believes the departure of coach Mark Boucher will give the Proteas further incentive to perform well in Australia.
“We obviously have the situation of the coach who will be leaving the team after the World Cup and I guess that’s an extra bit of motivation for us as a unit with everything that is already there,” he concluded.
“What happens after the World Cup is quite hard to talk about. In terms of the brand of play I don’t see that changing. I think the language that we’ve been speaking as a team has been quite consistent over the last 18 months, so I don’t see that changing. The coach will leave, but his taste and brand on the team that is with us at the moment, that will continue.”
The opening T20 against India is scheduled for Wednesday in Thiruvananthapuram.
