IND vs SA: Bavuma blames low score, soft wickets for ODI series loss

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma admitted his team lost the ODI series decider due to a low score. He stated that gifting wickets put them under pressure and acknowledged that the Indian team showed their quality in the commanding victory.

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma admitted that the team lost the third and final ODI of the three-match of India vs South Africa series because they did not put enough runs on the board.

'Needed to be smarter'

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Bavuma said batting became easier under lights, but his team needed to be smarter in the middle overs and avoid giving away soft wickets that put pressure on them. He acknowledged India's quality and credited them for their performance. "We would have wanted to make it a lot more exciting today. I think fact of the matter is that from a batting point of view, we didn't have enough runs on the board. I think as it's been in the series, it does tend to get easier under lights with the ball skidding on. So, you know, probably a little bit smarter from us. In the middle innings, gifting wickets like that you know, it's always going to put you under pressure. Fought with the ball today, in that first turn, we were much better. But obviously, without much scoreboard pressure they didn't have to take risks. But at the end, the Indian team showed their quality. Kudos to them. " the Proteas captain said.

Bavuma noted that in the first two ODIs, the team had successfully taken on the spinners, but conditions were different this time and losing wickets aggressively hurt them. The wickets falling in clusters made it difficult to build partnerships, and getting bowled out in a 50-over match was disappointing. While de Kock converted his start and scored a hundred, others--including Bavuma himself--failed to capitalise. Notably, South Africa had chased the target of 359 in the second ODI of the series, levelling the series 1-1. "Could have been a lot more smarter. I think, I mean, if I look at the first two, first two ODIs, we kind of prided ourselves enough when the spinners have come on. The guys have looked to take on the spinners. I think probably today, conditions are a little bit different. You don't want to kind of be losing wickets like that. Look, it made it hard for partnerships to form. And you never want to get bowled out in a 50-over game. So, a couple of starts, you know. Quinton, yes, he got over the hundred mark. I got in, you know, lost my way there. You know, it was always going to be difficult for the guys. But yeah, I think just being a little bit more smarter and us learning from this experience," Bavuma said.

'Take the game to the opposition'

Bavuma highlighted that South Africa have a number of young players who are learning to play positively and take the game to the opposition. "We've got some young faces within our team. You know, we speak a lot about how we want to play, you know, take the game to the opposition. And I think we did that. India have quality spinners. And it's never easy putting them under pressure," Bavuma said further.

Match recap

Coming to the match, India won the toss and opted to bowl first, and South Africa were restricted to 270 in 47.5 overs. After an early wicket, Quinton de Kock (106) and Temba Bavuma (48) stabilised the innings with a 113-run stand. However, despite helpful contributions from Breetzke, Brevis and Jansen, South Africa collapsed from a promising 234/5 due to impactful spells from Prasidh Krishna (4/66) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/41).

In reply, India chased the target comfortably in 39.5 overs. Rohit Sharma (75) and Yashasvi Jaiswal built a dominant 155-run opening stand, after which Jaiswal (116*) and Virat Kohli (65*) added another century partnership to seal a commanding series-clinching win. (ANI)

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