Temba Bavuma has vowed to face the pressure of lack of runs head on and expressed his lack of interest for opinions coming from outside of the Proteas team. 

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Proteas captain, Temba Bavuma, has been under immense pressure after the SA20 snub and his lack of form in India recently. A month ago in the press-conference pre-departure to India for the T20I series, even during the T20I series, there were signs that the pressure had gotten to Bavuma. 

The 31-year-old has had enough time to reflect and carve out an approach to better handle all the attention. Usually, pressure makes people act out of character, chokes them and prevents them from playing their natural game. Bavuma is adamant that facing it head on is the way to go. 

“Pressure comes in different forms. Being captain, its a lot more blown up. All eyes are on you and there’s more critique regarding your performances and how you are as a leader,” Bavuma told the media a day before South Africa’s opening World Cup match. 

“With being captain comes the responsibility and that isn’t something one can shy away from. I’ll face up to it as honorably and with as much gratitude as I can.”

Like Pieter Malan said on his Test debut, ‘international cricket is no pressure, it’s a privilege’.

Like Rassie Erasumus emphasized after his side won the World Cup in 2019, ‘rugby isn’t supposed to create pressure, it should create hope. We have a privilege not a burden.’ 

This perspective lifts off the weight on your shoulders and allows you to focus on the job at hand.

Bavuma has his hands full at the moment, there’s a World Cup to contest and zero time to be listening to the outside noise. The noise includes the selection debates on who to play between him and Reeza Hendricks alongside Quinton de Kock at the top of the order.

“I’m aware of the conversations that are happening in my head regarding my game, regarding how I’m going to go about leading the team. I’m not aware of what’s being discussed outside of the team,” Bavuma expressed his lack of interest for opinions coming from outside the team. 

“In terms of the team (the XI), I think there won’t be any surprises from that point of view. We know what we want to do, we know how we’re going to do it and we’re all quite comfortable. That’s where my focus is. That’s where the focus is with regards to the guys that are here within the team. Anything else is for other ears.”

Temba’s words bring hope that he is in a better space mentally to lead and to perform with the bat in this tournament. The team needs him to pull through for them to have a chance of going all the way and win it for the first time in history.