South Africa’s limited-overs skipper lauded the players who pulled off a whitewash in the two-Test series against Bangladesh at home. While praising the new recruits and return of the old ones, he also pointed out that there will be competition for spot in the side when the members of main squad return after the completion of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.
“We didn't have all our assets going into the Tests (on the IPL players), but we found new players to do the job, it'll be nice to have competition for places when they're back for the next series,” Bavuma told the broadcasters after his team’s massive 332-run win over Bangladesh at St Geroge's Park, Port Elizabeth.
The South African players who opted to play in the ongoing IPL 2022 instead of home Test series include pacers Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen along with batters Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram. The other three players who were not supposed to be the part of South Africa’s Test squad are Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Dwaine Pretorius.
Last month, Proteas Test skipper Dean Elgar had said that he thinks playing for country is bigger than IPL. Also, it will be a big loyalty test for the players.
“It’s a tough one leaving that up to the players, but this is how we’ll see where their loyalty lies. They mustn’t forget that Test and one-day cricket got them into the IPL, not the other way around. Hopefully by next week that will be clearer for us,” Elgar told Cricbuzz.
“You don’t want players to miss out on a big occasion like the IPL, by no means. But I’d still like to think playing for your country is bigger than that,” the opener added.
In big guns’ absence, Bavuma turned out to be the second-highest run-scorer in the Test series after skipper Elgar. He scored 194 runs from four innings at an average of 48.50 including two half-centuries. In the second Test, he was one of the four half-centurions who contributed to the first innings total of 453.
