Temba Bavuma on South Africa ODI v Afghanistan

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Temba Bavuma on South Africa ODI v Afghanistan  20/02/2025  icc25

Transcript

00:00Good to go. Hi everyone. Thank you so much for joining us this evening for the pre-match

00:26press conference featuring Captain Timber the Brumer. We'll go straight into it. Who

00:27would like to take the first question?

00:28You have been here for almost a week before the Champions Trophy. What do you think about

00:33the game against Afghanistan? And you had a pretty warm-up game as well, but you got

00:40for 300 in all of the matches that have been played on these surfaces. So what is going

00:44to be the line-up for tomorrow and how hard it is to tackle Afghan spinners on these conditions?

00:50Yeah, so I think on the line-up, we're not in a position yet to release the line-up.

00:56I think in terms of the conditions, yeah, we've had a nice look at what to expect. Probably

01:03better friendly wickets. And I think quite a nice challenge for the bowlers. So I think

01:11probably our challenge as a bowling unit is to be probably one of the more disciplined

01:16and precise bowling units. And I guess always look for opportunities to take wickets. And

01:22I think from a batting point of view, scoreboard pressure is a big thing. So guys getting in,

01:27making sure they go get big so we can challenge for those 330, 340, 350 type of scores. So

01:35yeah, I think with all of that, it should be exciting. We've got a proper opening game

01:40against Afghanistan, who are super, super competitive, especially in these type of conditions.

01:46So the challenge that they'll bring from a slow bowling point of view, the spinners and

01:51the chemistry bowlers, and also their swing bowlers being their seamers, you know, that's

01:56really going to ask certain questions of us. But yeah, looking forward to, we're all looking

02:02forward to the start, proper start of the tournament.

02:06You spoke about the challenge Afghanistan could pose to South Africa, but how do you

02:13rate them as opponents? Because although they are making their debut here in this tournament,

02:20how do you rate them? Because a lot of people and fans back home would say, okay, they are

02:24newcomers, they can be beaten easily, but they did well against you in Sharjah recently.

02:29So how do you rate them as opponents and what challenge are you expecting from them? And

02:33did you get any chance to have a look at what sort of wicket you're expecting tomorrow?

02:37Yeah, highly competitive team Afghanistan. I think, I mean, they've got a lot of experience

02:42within their team. So guys who have that international pedigree, at least from a skill

02:50point of view, like you said, you know, they played, we played against them mid to late

02:56last year, you know, in the Victoria. So they won't be short of any type of confidence coming

03:01into the game tomorrow. We've also had a good look at them. I think probably the similar

03:09team that we played against Sharjah that will be coming again. So I guess we kind of know

03:14what to expect. So, you know, in terms of our preparation, we've ticked the boxes that

03:20we feel that we need to tick. But I think most importantly, we'll have to come out and

03:24bring out our A game.

03:26Wicket?

03:27Wicket? I haven't had a look at the wicket, but from what I hear from the coach, it looks

03:32a fresh wicket, not as dry as the other wickets that we've seen. So maybe a little bit more

03:39assistance from the seam bowlers. But I think Karachi's Karachi is generally a good wicket

03:47for the batters.

03:48Jemba, South Africa has always been a great side if we talk about the bilateral series.

03:56But if we talk about the tournaments, they always couldn't cross the line. Similar things

04:02happened in the 2020 World Cup, recently concluded India got over the line. So this thing is

04:08always hurts, you know, we are Africa fans. What do you think about this tournament? Can

04:12you guys cross the line and done that lot for South Africa?

04:17Look, I mean, like all the tournaments, we'll come in with the prospect of seeing ourselves

04:22in the final. But eventually, obviously going over the line. I think the nice thing is that

04:30we have guys with that experience. And it's more of learnings that guys are coming into

04:36the tournament with. I think there's no real baggage that exists amongst the guys. There's

04:43no negativity from the fact that we haven't been able to be successful in other ICC events

04:50or addition, but it's more of a, there's a lot more of a positivity and confident in

04:55terms of our ability or how far we can go within the tournament. We understand, you

05:01know, the Champions Trophy is a little bit different. You know, it's almost every game

05:05is a knockout type of thing. And our mindset really is to make sure that we pitch up and

05:09play our best game of cricket. Hopefully we're playing five games, not three games of cricket

05:15in this tournament. I think most importantly, we win the moments that matter.

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