‘It’s been a while since I hit the ball anywhere near the middle’: Bavuma

Being calm and making better decisions was how Proteas captain Temba Bavuma approached his batting during the rain-affected 33-run defeat to Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.

Though South Africa lost, their progression to the semifinals of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup is in their hands as they need a win over the Netherlands on Sunday in their final match in Group 2.

It was an improved performance by Bavuma as he hit the straps with a promising knock of 36 off 19 balls that included one maximum and four boundaries before he edged to Mohammad Rizwan behind off the bowling of Shadab Khan.

“It has been a while since I hit the ball anywhere near the middle,” said Bavuma, whose previous scores at the World Cup were 2 against Zimbabwe, 2 against Bangladesh and 10 against India.

“I felt a lot better today [Thursday]. I thought I was seeing the ball quite well, making better decisions out there and I was a lot calmer.

“I just tried to enjoy it, to be honest, try to watch the ball and whatever happens after that happens. It was much better today and hopefully it can continue for much longer into this tournament.”

Bavuma said the defeat was not necessarily a “concern, [but] probably it is a bit of a wake-up call”.

“I thought in the first 10 overs we were superb, we were able to put them under pressure, but after that the wheels probably fell off.

“I don’t think it’s a big concern — there are areas we can learn from and maybe it was a performance we needed to bring us down.”

Bavuma bemoaned South Africa's performance in the field as they put down catches to give the Pakistani batters second chances.

“I am not going to sit here and look for excuses for our fielding display. I think until this game our fielding has been very good. We fielded at night, we fielded during the day and we fielded in wet conditions.

“Today, individually the guys were not where they were supposed to be mentally. Mistakes we made were not the type of mistakes you want to be making at this level, especially at this part of the tournament.

“Maybe the intensity lowered a bit from the guys, but like I said, individually the guys were low and that is not the standard of fielding we pride ourselves in.”

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