Courtesy: CSA
Temba Bavuma, the captain of South Africa, hit back at critics in his indomitable style after leading his team to a 2-0 home Test series win over Sri Lanka, taking a step closer to reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final next year. The 34-year-old spoke about how there will be certain people in life who will wait for the opportunity to talk us down, but it’s up to us as sportsmen to not give them that opportunity with our performances.
After a bit of a lean patch in the Test arena, followed by an elbow injury, Temba Bavuma had become a magnet for criticism in the cricketing world over the recent months. But, after his return to the South Africa cricket team as the captain, the right-handed batter scored a hundred and three fifties in four innings against Sri Lanka, accumulating 327 runs in total at an average of 81.75, to help them win the Test series in a dominating manner.
There will be people who are not happy that you're doing well: Temba Bavuma
During a press conference at the St George’s Park in Gqeberha, where South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 109 runs in the second Test of the two-match series, Temba Bavuma teared into his critics by saying, as per Cricbuzz, “I haven't been in action for the last couple of months [because of an elbow injury], so I'm not too sure what the noise would have been about. But my focus is always on myself and the team and what I can do from that perspective.”
Temba Bavuma also spoke about how it’s important for players to perform at their best possible level, which would help them in not giving the opportunity to the critics to say anything about them. He remarked, “The longer you play, the more you accept that as much as you do well, there will be people who are not happy that you're doing well. They're waiting for the opportunity to say what they want to say. Us as sportsmen, through our performances, want to make sure that we don't give them that opportunity.”
“I guess the silence being there is a good thing. Maybe it's not so much of a good thing for the people who want something to write about. But we'll continue to focus on ourselves, the team, and what it is that we would like to achieve,” the South African captain shifted his attention to getting the best out of himself and the team in the Test format in the near future.
