Despite conquering the opening day, the Indian batsmen collapsed on day 3, experiencing one of the biggest collapses in recent times. India began the day with a maximum of 272 runs with 3 wickets dropped. They were, however, bowled out for 327 runs in much less than 15 overs. Here is Why Bavuma Lauds Shami.
The Indian bowling unit came out strong, to tackle the South African batters. Except for Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock, none of the SA batters had any idea how to deal with the bowling. Bavuma made 52 runs and de Kock added 34 before South Africa was bowled out for 197 runs, surrendering a 130-run lead in the 1st innings. Mohammed Shami took five wickets, with that he bagged his 200th Test wicket.
Indian bowlers were able to exploit the conditions: Bavuma
“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 defense 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.
Bavuma lauded Shami’s bowling performance during the conclusion of day-3. He also said that Indian bowling attacks were able to take full advantage of the South African conditions.
Bavuma also stated that South Africa’s stance on this match has been greatly influenced by the team’s inability to play Test matches for a long period of time. Before this match, SA have played 5 matches, the last of which was in June 2021 against the West Indies.
“I do not want to be accused of making excuses for our play but not playing Test cricket for a while 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,” said Bavuma.
“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.
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