Temba Bavuma, the captain of South Africa, responded angrily to those who had criticised him for his leadership and subpar batting performance during the just finished ODI World Cup 2023.
Before the Proteas suffered a painful loss to eventual winners Australia in the semi-final, Bavuma guided the team to a second-place finish after the league cycles. Even though the team put up a heroic fight to hold down a pitiful 212, Bavuma’s captaincy came under scrutiny both before and after the match.
Bavuma, as cited by The Daily Maverick, defended his position on the team. He said, “I have said it from the beginning that if any of the guys stood there and said, ‘Temba, you are not the man for the job as captain,’ then I would happily walk away. These are the bunch of guys who we have been together since 2020. We know each other through and through, and we know what we play for. I am not the guy who is on Twitter or Facebook.”
He raised more concerns about the standard by which a captain is evaluated by pointing up the team’s outstanding performance at the 2023 World Cup. He added, “I don’t know what the metric is to judge someone if they’re captaining well. We won the most games in the group stage out of any South African team. We beat teams that haven’t been beaten in a while in World Cups so what metrics are we going to use to judge whether a guy is using the job as the captain?.”
“I am not someone who is going to answer to calls” : Temba Bavuma
Temba Bavuma defended his decision to play during the 2023 World Cup semifinal even though he acknowledged that he wasn’t fully fit for the toss. Regretfully, as he was out for an unfortunate duck in the opening over of the match, the harsh assessment of his approach to the game intensified. Due to a stomach ailment, Bavuma was unable to play in both of South Africa’s matches against Bangladesh and England.
The South African skipper said, “For me to step down in a World Cup semifinal, that thought is strange. I am not someone who is going to walk away from adversity, I am not someone who is going to answer to calls from people shouting on Twitter or Facebook. Decisions I make will always be for the betterment of the team.”
Fans react as Temba Bavuma opens up about social media trolls following poor ODI World Cup 2023 campaign: –
Temba Bavuma said, "i do not care about the people shouting on Twitter and Facebook. They did not speak when i played matches with broken fingers and did well for my country". pic.twitter.com/UQ7aE0prnw
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 20, 2023
Attitude boy, silent kiIIaaa, sweet gunda, ghatak smarty
— Mikku ? (@effucktivehumor) November 20, 2023
Temba Bavuma in the world cup pic.twitter.com/EyGjmbQADF
— Radhika Chaudhary (@Radhika8057) November 20, 2023
Once a legend is always a legend pic.twitter.com/NTUl6hZFrK
— Muhammad Uzair (@uzairsays_) November 20, 2023
I told you earlier temba don't care pic.twitter.com/aDYuGSwWdh
— Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) November 20, 2023
Lord Bavuma batted with a broken finger and a broken heart too.
— Sarcastic Cowboy (@SarcasticCowboy) November 20, 2023
Indians are angry on him because they wanted an easy opponent in the finals. ?
— Hamza Tariq (@_HamzaPro) November 20, 2023
Temba is dedicated n needs appreciation…
those people r mocking him who cannot even reach to his level
— anees ur rehman (@an33s) November 20, 2023
Cricket world cup is too easy for Bavu,
Hence he is eyeing FIFA World Cup pic.twitter.com/JGuDPJdCpj— ?????? ??????? (@KirketAcademy) November 20, 2023
It's not about that Temba, people will appreciate you for that.
It's about form. You were not in good form plus you were not 100% fit, you should have let Reeza play who has been in good form.
— Yogesh (@yogeshontop) November 20, 2023
