Cape Town - Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis says he fully understands the pressure Temba Bavuma is currently under, but “only runs will get people off his back”.
Bavuma is expected to lead out the Proteas in their opening ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match against the Zimbabwe on Monday in Hobart, but the skipper has been the central point of attention in the build-up due to his lack of form.
Bavuma returned from a two-month injury layoff in India and managed just 0,0 and 3 during the T20I series there. He followed it up another paltry eight runs in the lone ODI he played before falling foul of a viral infection.
The illness caused Bavuma to miss the final two ODI’s and the T20 warm-up match against New Zealand in Brisbane last week. The final warm-up against Bangladesh was abandoned due to rain, which further hampered Bavuma’s preparation.
The conundrum facing the Proteas selectors is that they have in-form Reeza Hendricks that will most likely have to sit out to accommodate Bavuma’s return.
Du Plessis sympathises with Bavuma’s situation for he too underwent periods where his place in the team was under threat during his leadership reign. This was particularly evident during the latter stages of his Test career, when the team were also not producing the required results.
“I think from my experience that when a team is winning and your form isn't great, you can slip under the radar and you can get away with it because the team is doing well. When a team is losing and the captain is not scoring runs, that's when the pressure really starts becoming big on you,” Du Plessis exclusively told IOL Sport.
“I went through that a few times to the point where you become the one guy that everyone would speak about. Temba is going through that right now. He's going through the pressure of the amount of runs,versus captaincy versus position. It’s completely normal what he's going through.”
Du Plessis, who led Bavuma in 28 of his 51 Tests, is confident though that the diminutive right-hander has the temperament to battle through this furnace he currently finds himself in.
“Temba has gone through this a few times in his career. He's a guy that's had to deal with a lot of challenges. He's not been rated by a lot of people for a long time. And he's always found a way through it,” he said.
“I've actually been impressed with his captaincy. I think he's done some really good things from a leadership point of view. But unfortunately, the currency that you get judged on is runs. So he'll only get the people off his back when he scores the runs that he can score.”
* Full Faf du Plessis interview to be published on Sunday