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South Africa captain Temba Bavuma feels that it will be exciting for the team to come up against the duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the upcoming three-match ODI series. With this about to be the Indian batting stalwarts' first home assignment since the series against England in February, 2025, all eyes will definitely be on them.
Bavuma eager to face Rohit and Virat
Bavuma remarked that they are looking forward to their battle against Rohit and Virat, but added that they will be preparing for them just like they do for the other players. The 35-year-old is well aware that the energy in the stadium will be on a different level because of the two, but they will not be preparing differently for them because of this.
“I think it's exciting, right? It's exciting for the locals, having the two living legends come back and play on Indian soil for a while. So it's exciting for us to be a part of a different type of energy when those two big guys are around. So it's something that we'll be looking forward to," Bavuma said in a video posted by Star Sports.
“I think like any other players, we will do our preparation around them, come up with whatever tactics that we come up with. But we know that the energy is going to be a little bit different, but it's an exciting one. From a captaincy point of view, I don't think much really changes for my side. I think you obviously want to lead with the bat, and then you want to lead the guys out there tactically on the field. So, nothing really, I don't think much really changes," he added.
Rohit and Virat's ODI return against Australia
Meanwhile, Rohit and Virat had made their much-awaited returns to international cricket with the three-match ODI series against Australia in October. While Rohit had a memorable outing and ended up as the top-scorer with 202 runs from three innings, Kohli got dismissed for ducks in the first two matches but finished off the assignment with a valiant knock of 74* as India recorded a 9-wicket win in the third ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It remains to be seen how the duo will perform on home soil against the Proteas.
India's squad for ODI series against South Africa: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.
South Africa's squad for India ODIs: Temba Bavuma (C), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen.
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