'He has surprised all of us...': AB de Villiers hails Temba Bavuma, compares his captaincy style to MS Dhoni

Legendary South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers showered praise on Temba Bavuma for his brilliant record as the side's Test skipper and likened his captaincy skills to that of MS Dhoni. This comes after Bavuma & Co. completed a Test series whitewash over India to continue their stunning form in the format. Notably, Bavuma is yet to record a defeat as the Proteas' Test skipper and the team has won 11 out of 12 Tests under his leadership. The one match where they didn't come out victorious, ended in a draw due to excessive rain.

De Villiers admitted that he wasn't fully convinced with Bavuma when he was appointed as South Africa's Test captain, but has been proven wrong by the latter. He further went on to compare Bavuma's calm and composed captaincy style to that of MS Dhoni.

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“He has surprised all of us. I’ve spoken to my friends about it for years. For the first few years after he was named captain, I was hesitant to say I was confident about the call. Maybe it comes back to the old phrase: you can’t judge a book by its cover,” de Villiers said on a YouTube show with Ravichandran Ashwin.

“He doesn’t look like this big Graeme Smith with the aura and intimidating presence. Temba is a small, soft-spoken guy; he hardly ever raises his voice. It shows you that different styles of captaincy can be successful. I think it was similar with MS Dhoni back in the day. I hardly ever heard his voice. He was calm, didn’t speak much, but when he did, people listened. I think it might be the same with Temba. He earns respect by being calm. It’s absolutely incredible. He has taken me aback with the success he has achieved," he added.

Bavuma has taken the team to the next level

It is safe to say that Bavuma has done wonders for the South Africa team especially when it comes to Test cricket as not only has the team become a force to be reckoned with in the longest format under him, but they also ended their long wait for an ICC trophy with victory in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.

South Africa stand 2nd on the WTC standings

The 2-0 series whitewash over India once again showed that the Proteas are one of the top Test teams in the world as of current and they will be looking to maintain their stunning form in their next red-ball assignments. They currently sit second on the WTC points table with a PCT of 75.00 and are only behind Australia, who are yet to record a draw or a defeat in the cycle.