Exclusive: Proteas Captain Bavuma is Ready for the Challenge in Champions Trophy Group of Death

South Africa heads into the upcoming Champions Trophy in Pakistan on the back of six consecutive defeats in One Day Internationals, including losses to New Zealand and Pakistan in Lahore and Karachi respectively last week. 

The main reason behind the recent poor run of form in 50 over cricket for the Proteas has largely been a result of the unavailability of key players over the past 12 months. 

Just like all top cricketing nations around the world, key players had to be rested in between formats and South Africa found themselves having to rest key players including Kagiso Rabada for the majority of bilateral ODI series' over the last year. 

Rekindling ODI form

The last time South Africa played a full-strength team in ODI cricket was during the semi-final of the 2023 ODI World Cup in India and even now, as captain Temba Bavuma and his troops build toward the Champions Trophy, the team has lost a number of key players due to injury including Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee.  

Despite the injuries and recent poor run of form, Bavuma insists that they only need to remind themselves of the team's philosophy and blueprint in order to find their groove again. 

The 34-year-old is confident that they will return to winning ways in the Champions Trophy. 

"Firstly as a group, we're quite confident with our skillsets and ability to get together and play our best cricket," Bavuma told SportsBoom.com in an exclusive interview.  

"We've shown that in the 2023 World Cup, pretty much a similar group has shown that in the 2024 T20 World Cup as well. We are quite confident from that point of view."

"The quicker we are able to connect, get back to the same page as a team, and remind ourselves of our philosophy and blueprint, the easier it will be for us to see ourselves playing our best cricket."

"The quicker that we're able to acclimatise to the conditions and get our tactics right and in place, that will also contribute to us getting to the levels of performance that we know we can."

Taking on pressure as captain

Heading into the tournament, Bavuma is one of the in-form batters and given his captaincy position, the 34-year-old has expectations on his shoulders. 

The top-order batter expressed to SportsBoom.com that he hasn't put unrealistic expectations on himself despite coming from an excellent home summer where he scored two Test centuries. 

Going into his fifth ICC World Event as captain, Bavuma is bracing for the pressure that lies ahead, the pressure that only captains can understand. 

"I'm coming into this Champions Trophy with a little bit of form and confidence in my game. In my mind, there's no unrealistic expectation that I've set for myself."

"I just want to see myself playing my best cricket, however, that looks like here in Pakistan and for the team. Importantly, ensure that I put my best foot forward from a captaincy point of view."

"World events are pressure-staking on the team and sometimes as captain, you end up taking a little bit more of that heat for the sake of the team. From that perspective, without taking on unnecessary pressure but to put my best foot forward as a leader."

The group of death

South Africa finds themselves in 'the group of death' with World Champions Australia, England and the dangerous Afghanistan team. 

Despite the steep competition, Bavuma is optimistic of their chances of progressing into the past the group stage of the tournament. 

"We are optimistic of our chances. Each game is going to be an important one," he said. 

"We'll prepare as well as we can for every game and we've played against all those teams so there will be nothing that will be surprising us."

"With the quality of those teams, we'll have to play our best cricket. We look forward to the challenge of coming up against those guys. We look forward to getting on the right side of the result."

South Africa get their campaign underway on Friday against Afghanistan in Karachi.