Bavuma feels Brevis and Breetzke could serve SA for a long time

South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma, who returns to the playing XI for the second ODI, reflected on India’s strengthened line-up featuring Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as well as the broader plans of the Proteas in the 50-over set-up.

“Their inclusion definitely strengthens India. They bring huge experience and skill. We’ve faced them for many years — some of us were still in school when they started. They’re world-class players, and we’ve been on the wrong end of their performances before, but we’ve also had good moments against them. It all makes the series more exciting,” said Bavuma on Tuesday.

He also spoke about South Africa’s ODI roadmap: “We’re at a different stage in ODIs (as) compared to Tests. We’re building towards where we want to be. We may not have guys who go on to play over 250 games like India, but players like (Dewald) Brevis and Matthew Breetzke could get there over time. We want young players to get opportunities and see how well they fit into roles.”

As for the loss in the first ODI, Bavuma stressed that the gap wasn’t wide. “We were only about 15 runs (sic) short. The fundamentals remain the same: start well, take chances when they come. If our top-order had contributed more, things could’ve looked different”.