Former South African skipper AB de Villiers has heaped huge praise on Temba Bavuma after the Proteas’ historic Test series win in India. De Villiers said Bavuma’s calm attitude on the field reminds him of MS Dhoni, who was known for rarely raising his voice with teammates.
Bavuma has now become the first South African captain since Hansie Cronje in 2000 to win a Test series in India. The 35-year-old remains unbeaten as Test captain, with 11 wins in 12 matches, and was named Player of the Match in the opening Test in Kolkata for his fighting fifty in the second innings.
“Bavuma has exceeded expectations despite lacking Graeme Smith’s aura” — AB de Villiers
Speaking to Ravichandran Ashwin on the latest episode of his YouTube show ‘Ashwin,’ de Villiers added that Bavuma has exceeded expectations with his achievements despite not having the strong, commanding aura that Graeme Smith carried.
“South Africa lost that one Test in Pakistan which I think they should never have lost,” he said. “But he didn’t play that Test, so he got off. I mean he surprised all of us. I’ve been in connection with my friends for years, for the first few years that he was named captain and I even was hesitant to say you know what I’m very confident about the call.”
“Maybe it comes back to that old phrase, ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover’. He doesn’t look big like Greame Smith with a whole aura walking and that presence where he can be intimidating.”
He further continued:
“Temba is very, very small. He’s a soft-spoken guy and hardly ever raises his voice. It just shows you the different styles of captaincy can be successful. I think it’s similar for MS Dhoni maybe back in the day also. I hardly ever heard his voice. He was quite calm, didn’t speak much but when he did speak, I think people listened to him. I think that might be a similar case with Temba.”
The Cape Town–born batter also went down in history as the first South African captain since Hansie Cronje to secure an ICC trophy, guiding the Proteas to the World Test Championship title in June this year.
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