26 October - Chennai - South Africa Captain Temba Bavuma pre-match press conference
[Reporter:]
Pakistan said it’s a do or die game for him, and everyone knows that Pakistan on a given day can beat anyone. Keeping that in mind how are you going to plan for the game tomorrow?
[Temba Bavuma:]
I think we’ll plan for the game how we’ve been planning for all our games. We had our meetings today, we went through the Pakistan team, the threats that they bring, their strengths and obviously their weaknesses. So, I think probably in a basic form is to exploit those weaknesses and nullify their strengths. But like you said, Pakistan are a dangerous team. We know that they haven't played close to their best, but tomorrow could be that. Make sure we are ready for that.
[Reporter:]
Will there be any changes in the side to suit the conditions?
[Temba Bavuma:]
Yeah, definitely. We haven't finalised the team yet. We haven't seen the wicket yet. It's still under covers, but definitely you can expect for Shamsi to come into play.
[Reporter:]
Just how are you feeling and how frustrated was it for you to sort of miss those two games?
[Temba Bavuma:]
Feeling a lot better, thank you. Do feel close to normal physically. Yeah, obviously as a player you want to be playing, it was frustrating. There wasn't really much I could do from their point of view. But I think comfort in the fact that Aiden came in as the leader and he did a very good job. Reza as well with the opportunities that he is given. He did what you'd expect from a replacement player. So, I guess from that, there was comfort. Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better.
[Reporter:]
So, five matches, and in three of them, you have scored 350-plus. It's kind of that you have set it as a par score for your side. Is it something premeditated that you had a similar plan set while heading into a match? Because the last two games you happened to play in Mumbai where it was kind of a belter of a wicket, but in Chennai it's kind of right opposite of what you played. So how premeditated you are and what are your plans regarding how you're going to tackle the situation of the wickets quality switching so rapidly?
[Temba Bavuma:]
So, I think what we've done well is there's that process within our batting of assessing the conditions, looking at what we need from a skill and option point of view to be successful, and that's what we've done well.
So, I think the process in itself, batting here in Chennai, that's not going to change. We'll assess the wicket and, I guess, come up with options as to how we can be successful. And if the opportunity is there for us to score 350, we'll do so. If not, we'll make sure we play what's happening in front of us as best as we can.
[Reporter:]
How much of a motivating factor has ‘The Chokers' tag been for the South African side in being such a scary side in this tournament? Mentally, how has it affected the players?
[Temba Bavuma:]
I don't think it's given us any extra motivation to be honest. I think we probably looked at ways as to how we can maybe divert our attention away, not necessarily using the chokers tag, but how do we address and deal with the precedent expectation. We understand that as the tournament progresses, the more we keep playing well, that's going to come to the fray. But I think we've developed ways as to how we can, I guess, divert our attention, and focus on the important things?
Like I said, it's still early in the tournament. There's still going to be pressure situations that we're going to overcome. If we stumble, we'll probably have to deal with that tag again. But for us as a team, we're looking at other ways to be able to deal with the pressures and expectations that come with being on the field.
[Reporter:]
In your team meeting this morning, how much information are you getting out of Eric’s time and what is the kind of stuff that he's telling you to expect when you play out there tomorrow?
[Temba Bavuma:]
So definitely from a bowling point of view, there's a lot of nuggets of gold that are coming from Eric, his experience of obviously having coached in this part of the world. Like I said, we haven't seen the wicket, but he'll probably be the person that will be leading that conversation there. But yeah, he's been invaluable from that point of view, from a bowling point of view.
But I think also from the intangibles, the pressure and expectation from that point of view. If you ask a lot of the guys, he's almost played like a grandpa role within the team, kind of finding ways to almost regulate our emotions. So, it's been refreshing from that point of view.
[Reporter:]
I think you guys have been massively successful batting first. The fact that this is considered a slower, more turning spinners pitch, does that change that mindset? Are you still going to look to bat first if you win the toss?
[Temba Bavuma:]
It's a good question. I watched the Afghanistan game with Pakistan and it seemed to get a lot better batting under light. So, I guess there's that temptation from a batting point of view at least. And then there's obviously us needing to consider the fact that we've had a lot of success of-late batting first. So fortunately for me, I don't have to make that decision right now. But I think we know somewhere along the line in the tournament we'll have to bat second. And I think the conversations that we've had as batters is to find ways as to how we can still follow that same process that we follow when we're batting first. Yeah, that's how I can answer it now.
[Reporter:]
Taking off from that question, at a time when most teams look to bat second in India, what makes South Africa such a good batting first team in this tournament? What gives you the confidence to break the mould?
[Temba Bavuma:]
I think I'll always fall back on our process like I've been speaking about. I think you always want a good foundation being set. The guys are batting at the top order. I think batting in the subcontinent, that becomes very important. Having guys, your openers, your top three, who are able to lay the foundation, and look, we've also got explosive guys. Aiden who can play both roles. You've got Klaasen who is, I think he's in the league of his own at the moment, the way he's hitting the ball. You've got David, and we've also got Marco Jansen who's also finding his feet in terms of clearing the boundary.
So, you know, that explosiveness that we have in our middle order, I think that's obviously helped us to be really destructive in the death phase. But I think it's all due to all the foundational work that is done by the guys at the top. It helps when you have a guy like Quinton de Kock as well who's played in these conditions over a number of years now. He really knows what's going. He's informed and he's making a count.
[Reporter:]
Pakistan looks unsettled team from the last three successive games they lost and their bowling is look also unsettled. Do you think it's your advantage as a team and do you think that Pakistan can bounce back as they do in previous ICC events?
[Temba Bavuma:]
Definitely, Definitely, we didn't write out Pakistan starting the tournament I had them as one of the top four teams at the end of the group stages. So that's the amount of respect that you have for Pakistan. We don't have a great record, to be honest, against Pakistan in ODI. So, I think with everything that is happening around their team, the things that are not happening well for them. I think that humbles us as a team and it really gets us, I guess, to just pull ourselves back and make sure that we still focus on playing good cricket.
I saw a comment that described Pakistan as mercurial. I had to Google the word, but it spoke about how a team can be good one day and not so good the other day. So, we want to make sure that when they're good, we are so good as well.
[Reporter:]
You spoke about the explosive middle order. You have one and Klaassen has been batting really well. We saw the other day Maxwell as well. How important is it for a team to have that explosive middle order batters coming good in such a tournament like this World Cup?
[Temba Bavuma:]
Very important. Like I said, the success of those guys is due to the foundation that is set for them. You don't want guys like that walking in the 15th over or the 20th over. So, you really want to be setting up the game for them to come out and express the talent and ability that they have. I mean, the confidence that he has, that he's exuding at the moment, it's rubbing on a lot of the guys within the team, within the conversations that we have. So, that's great to see. And I guess for us as players, it's to support him, to make sure that he keeps going stronger and stronger with those performances, but also for other guys as well to come in and put in those inspirational type of performances that we're seeing from him.
[Reporter:]
As the tournament approaches the business end and semi-finals come into focus, it just seems that the squad has an unusually high percentage of players who are not prone to great emotion, don't take the highs particularly high or the lows particularly low. Would you say, when you look at, I don't know, Klaasen, yourself, Aiden and KG and Lungi, everybody, there seems to be a lot of he relaxed players an unusually high amount would you think that's a team characteristic
[Temba Bavuma:]
I think behind the outside of the cameras the guys are quite emotional I think that is a skill that we're all trying to learn, even myself. I think when we get into those pressure moments, I think that's where it's really going to count.
We've had conversations around it. But I think the real, like I said, true sense is going to come when we get past those situations. But we're doing what we can in terms of to prepare ourselves as well as we can to let go of the outcome and really focus on our process and just not be too overly invested emotionally in what it will look like if we are in those position.
I think it's also the understanding of knowing that we've come across a lot of challenges as a team to be in this point.
Five games ago, we weren't probably seen as the favourites, but now, there's a lot more positivity around the Proteas and the South African team. But, yeah, I think the old, cliched way, we're trying to take it day by day and keep enjoying our processes and the journey.
, but still hear it out. 
. Its like replacing one broken door with another broken door, Sa won't exactly encounter any barriers.
