“I enjoy the captaincy,” said South Africa’s captain, Temba Bavuma, after leading the Proteas to a 3-0 series victory over India.

Bavuma acknowledged that leading a South African team presented its own set of challenges.

“The biggest thing for me is to keep cricket the main focus among the guys. I hate to bring this up but it has been a challenging period for the team, for players, for particular members of management. There has been a lot of scrutiny surrounding the team.”

Bavuma threw his weight behind Sisanda Magala, whose inconsistency has been a topic of conversation through this series.

“He’s a new guy on the international scene but he’s played a lot of domestic cricket. We know what he’s capable of. Bowling at the death is one of his strengths, one of his fortes. That’s the reason he’s in the team. When we look for guys to bowl at the death, he’s one of them. I’ve got the confidence he will execute it when that situation arises.”

Bavuma also heaped praise on Jaaneman Malan, who the ICC recently named as Emerging Player of the Year.

“He’s an amazing talent on the field. Set the world alight with his performances. Off the field, he’s a nice guy to have around. He’s always bubbly, he’s always making jokes. He actually thinks he is funny. He is a good guy. He is a guy you would have in your team any day.”

One of the missing links in the previous series was the lack of centuries from the batting unit. Bavuma revealed that Head Coach, Mark Boucher, challenged the batting group to score hundreds. The team responded well with Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, and Quinton de Kock scoring match-winning hundreds.

“From a batting point of view, it has been a revelation for us. The coach gave us a challenge that we want hundreds this series. In our top six, we have five guys averaging over 40. It makes for formidable viewing.”