South Africa suffered a big jolt during their 1st Test when their skipper, Temba Bavuma, suffered a left hamstring injury and had to go off the field at the SuperSport Park in Centurion, South Africa.
Temba Bavuma was chasing a cover drive off the blade of Virat Kohli in the 20th over, when he caught his left leg and was seen in pain. He was immediately taken off the field and had to be catered to by the physiotherapist of South Africa.
Bavuma was then rushed to the hospital for a scan and as per a report in ESPNCricInfo, Temba Bavuma is unlikely to participate in the remainder of the Boxing Day Test at Centurion.
As per the report, Cricket South Africa’s statement read that Bavuma will “undergo daily medical evaluations to determine.” Notably, if the skipper doesn’t recover on time, the Proteas will have to play with a batter short in the game as he cannot be substituted.
Former South African swashbuckling opener, Herschelle Gibbs, has lashed out at Temba Bavuma and the South African coach for his fitness issues.
“Ironic that the coach allows some players who are clearly unfit and overweight to play when he started off as proteas trainer in 2009,” Gibbs had tweeted on the X platform.
South Africa are in a commanding position in the Test
After putting the visitors to bat, South Africa called the shots in the first couple of days in this game. India were tottering at 24/3 as the South African pacers ran riot with the new ball. Just when a partnership was brewing between Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli, Iyer was cleaned up by Kagiso Rabada.
India managed to crawl onto 245 runs, thanks to the revolve and resilience of KL Rahul, who scored a fabulous knock of 101 runs.
Kagiso Rabada picked up his maiden 5-fer in the Test format against India and was breathing with fire. Debutant Nandre Burger too played well and bagged 3 wickets.
In response, South Africa are presently batting on 256/6, with a lead of 11 runs, at Stumps of Day 2. Dean Elgar has scored a fantastic knock and is presently batting at 140*. For India, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj have picked up 2 wickets each.
Prasidh Krishna picked up his maiden Test wicket after dismissing Kyle Verreynne for 4 runs.
India would be looking to maximize the impact with the new ball post 80 overs and would be hoping to prevent the hosts from getting a massive 1st innings lead.
Also read: 3 Reasons Why Royal Challengers Bangalore Might Not Win IPL 2024
