‘I don't think it's a weak team’ – Temba Bavuma after South Africa's first loss on the tour

India, on Tuesday (June 14), outplayed South Africa by 48 runs in the third T20I of the five-match series. Following the massive win at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, Rishabh Pant & Co kept themselves alive in the series after getting knocked down in the first two matches. 

After losing the toss and putting to bat first for the third straight time, the Men in Blue got off to a terrific start as openers Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad smashed the fifties and put up a 97-run stand for the first wicket. Thanks to Hardik Pandya’s late cameo knock, team India managed to post a formidable score of 179/5 on the board. 

South Africa, in reply after getting a slow and shaky start, finally bundled out for just 131 in 19.1 overs, losing the match by a huge margin. Chahal was the pick of the bowlers from the Indian contingent, bagging three wickets for 20 runs. Harshal Patel was a bit expensive, having conceded runs at an economy of 7.89, but he scalped four wickets to break the backbone of Proteas' batting lineup.  

South African captain Temba Bavuma, meanwhile, feels the Rishabh Pant-led side doesn't make a weak team as they are composed of 'quality players', who have done exceptionally well in domestic and IPL. Notably, the Indian side taking on South Africa in the ongoing five-match series misses out on the big names like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and KL Rahul.

"I don't think it is a weak team, these are guys who performed exceedingly well in their domestic competition and IPL. These are quality players. For us, we knew we had to play well and that is what we have done in the first two games.

''Today they were much better. That is something we have to expect. I don't think you were expecting that we will just come here and win the series 5-0 because all the big names are not there. This is a good Indian team in my opinion," Bavuma said in the post-match press conference of the 3rd T20I.

Bavuma also cleared that they have no intention to curb down their batting approach, after just one defeat in the five-match series, saying it was just an 'off day' for their batters. 

''With the batting, we were not able to get any partnership going, or any momentum going. In the first two games, we batted really well, but today was an off day for the batters," Bavuma added. 

The 32-year-old further added that losing a quality opener like Quinton de Kock to injury has affected the team. Notably, the Protea opener was ruled out of the second and third T20I due to a hamstring injury and his participation in the fourth match is under the scanner as well. 

''Look, Quinton is a big player at the top of the order but unfortunately, we don't have him at our disposal because he is injured. We have Reeza (Hendricks) as a backup option and we have full faith in backing him. This is the squad we have built over the last two years."

''Obviously, when a team loses, there are many areas that we can point out. Like I said at the start of the innings, we are looking to get stability but with Quinton not available, we are not able to get that stability," Bavuma concluded. 

South Africa will now travel to Rajkot to take on the Men in Blue in the fourth T20I, scheduled to be played on Friday ( June 17) at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.