The kind of performance the South African team put up in the last match of the recently concluded series against India.
This South African team is often called the Proteas Fire. They are in search of such a thing after the retirement of great players like Graeme Smith, Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, Morne Morkel, and many more. The team has been in the rebuilding phase since then. Now the team looks a little bit settled. The team looks good under the leadership of Temba Bavuma. He has been spot on with his field placements and provides that stability in the batting order by anchoring the innings.
The players like De Kock and David Miller have stepped up, and they have called their experienced players like Rilee Rossow and Wayne Parnell back into the team, which makes their team stronger than the team they were in earlier times.
A worrying sign for South Africa
In the last one-day series of three matches, they lost the series by 2-1. They had to play with 3 different skippers in all the 3 matches due to players being unwell and some of them being rested for the
While some of the players who played in this series have turned out positives for the team in this series, like the form of players like Keshav Maharaj, Reeza Hendricks, and David Miller, the skipper of the team, Temba Bavuma, looks completely out of touch after returning from injury. He has struggled throughout the series. He scored 3 runs in the T20 series against India.
After their tour to India, South Africa is left with more questions than answers about the T20 World Cup, as well as the future of white-ball cricket in general. With the exception of Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj, who were both absent on Tuesday, their batsmen appeared to be suffering in all but flat batting conditions, while their bowlers failed to apply enough pressure to the Indian batsmen for long enough stretches of time.
The fact that South Africa “rested” their pace spearhead for the series finale demonstrated that they were thinking about things other than the current game. Also, the fact that the Proteas are paired alongside Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan—three nations with strong spin capabilities—and may even have to play Sri Lanka—does not bode well for them at the T20 World Cup. The notion that Australian conditions might not be as favourable for the slower bowlers may provide some consolation for them.
The Shining stone
In the era of ABD, Faf and Hashim used to stabilise the lineup even in away conditions where the conditions to bat were difficult. But, in the current team, it seems like Aiden Markram is the player who can provide that kind of stability in the middle.
