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Temba Bavuma-led South Africa decimated bowling lineups on batting-friendly tracks in the recently concluded ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023. Bavuma was under fire as South Africa suffered a batting collapse in the semifinal against Australia. Before the semifinal, there were calls that Bavuma should drop himself as he had not hit a single half-century in the tournament. After the semifinal exit, Bavuma opened up on widespread criticism and chose not to dignify the trolling on social media.
"For me to step down in a World Cup semifinal, that thought is strange. I am not someone who is going to walk away from adversity, I am not someone who is going to answer to calls from people shouting on Twitter or Facebook. Decisions I make will always be for the betterment of the team," Bavuma told Daily Maverick.
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Bavuma missed two games during league stage against England and Bangladesh. The Proteas skipper said that a player is criticised for playing with an injury only if he fails to perform.
"Yes, I was not 100%, but if you know anything about professional cricket you will know guys don’t play cricket at 100% all the time. I have played games for the country with broken fingers and done well. People have never questioned [when] I have played a series with a groin injury and done well. So, for that to be used as an excuse for the [reason] of our exit at the competition is crazy, with all due respect," the opener stated.
Bavuma bagged a duck in the semifinal. He scored 145 runs from the eight games he played with a high score of 35 against Australia in the league stage clash. The 33-year-old said that he would step down from the role if any of his teammates demanded it.
"I have said it from the beginning that if any of the guys stood there and said, ‘Temba, you are not the man for the job as captain,’ then I would happily walk away. These are the bunch of guys who we have been together since 2020. We know each other through and through, and we know what we play for. I am not the guy who is on Twitter or Facebook," he said.
"I don’t know what the metric is to judge someone if they’re captaining well. We won the most games in the group stage out of any South African team. We beat teams that haven’t been beaten in a while in World Cups so what metrics are we going to use to judge whether a guy is using the job as the captain?," he added.
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