Rassie van der Dussen steps forward to support Temba Bavuma receiving criticism during the cricket World Cup. Temba Bavuma scored merely 145 runs in the 2023 World Cup.
TEMBA BAVUMA CRITICISM OVER WORLD CUP
South African captain Temba Bavuma ended up having a forgetful World Cup with the bat. He scored 145 runs in eight innings in this edition of the World Cup in India. Following this, Temba Bavuma was quickly singled out for criticism. Moreover, he also acknowledged he wasn’t fully fit before the Australia semifinal. Following the constant accusations that the captain was not in shape, the social media users went into a frenzy. He got out for a duck in the World Cup semifinal, which made way for his criticism. In an interview with Independent Media, teammate Rassie van der Dussen criticised the critics and said,
“As a team, it never affected us at all. There were no doubts in our minds that Temba needs to be in the team and is the captain, just on that basis alone the value that he adds is humungous. I think people are a bit shallow in their view. Obviously, you want all the guys doing well, but realistically that’s not going to happen too often, that’s why you have to function as a unit.”
Furthermore, Van der Dussen emphasised that Bavuma’s ODI career paints a very different image than in the 2023 World Cup.
“Look at Temba’s ODI numbers, it will tell you a different story. If you can take a few innings in isolation for criticism, then you can also take this year in isolation and also his ODI career in isolation and look at those numbers. If you look at the stats of this year, Temba still averages 50. If you’re judging a player, you judge them over a period of time and not just a certain few innings in the World Cup for an example.”
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