The T20 World Cup is set to feature a number of high-quality players and captains, but South Africa seem to be lagging behind.
When it comes to impact and achievements, Temba Bavuma is well short of the other skippers in their Super 12s group.
South Africa share a group with India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and all three have imposing captains who are proven match-winners in the format.
India have swapped one terrific captain for another, with Rohit Sharma ascending to the job.
Rohit Sharma is probably the skipper with the easiest job, given the personnel at his disposal and the other leaders in his group.
He can lean on the likes of Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, KL Rahul, and there is experience among his bowlers as well.
Rohit has to cope with the phenomenal pressure that descends on any India side when they approach an ICC Tournament.
Pakistan are commanded by a man who is among the best T20 batters in the world and perhaps the best multi-format batter right now in Babar Azam.
Babar leads well and there is no doubt that he deserves his place in the side given he is a consistent match-winner.
His alliance with Mohammad Rizwan is one of the great partnerships in modern cricket.
Babar can assess pitches very well as an opening bat, and this really helps him to lead the side given he has a good idea of what to expect.
98 seconds of aesthetically pleasing babar azampic.twitter.com/aZLZ3ptmjU
— Ahmed. (@ahmixdd) October 14, 2022
Finally, Bangladesh are led by Shakib al Hasan who is one of the great all-rounders the game has produced and arguably the best player to ever turn out for the Tigers.
Shakib’s captaincy is perhaps the weak point, but he is a player who commands the respect of his team nonetheless.
In contrast it is unclear if Bavuma could ever command the same respect given his recent form and captaincy run so far.
To be fair when Bavuma was appointed, he appeared to be a player who could command a place in the Protea’s best T20 XI, however that has shifted ever so slightly.
A strong run of form from Reeza Hendricks has forced Bavuma away from the opening role and his place in the middle order is now under threat from players like Rassie van der Dussen, who will miss the World Cup, Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram while Janneman Malan can’t even get into the group right now.
The lower order also can’t accommodate Bavuma’s style of batting and the Proteas prefer to lean on all-rounders and batters like David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen.
The Proteas unfortunately have a captain that compromises the strength of the team as things stand and as a result appear unlikely to mount a serious challenge in Australia.
