South Africa captain
Temba Bavuma has revealed how batting great
Sachin Tendulkar has influenced his technique, explaining how he has tried to adapt the Indian legend's approach to suit his own game.
Bavuma made the admission after scoring a career-best 179 against Australia in the second Test at St George's Park, helping South Africa recover from 110/6 to post 425/9 declared.
Asked about the similarities between his technique and that of Tendulkar, one of his heroes, Bavuma said he had consciously tried to incorporate aspects of the former India batter's approach, particularly his movement and ability to play the ball close to his body.
"Yeah, I mean, I try to emulate my technique to his. I mean, I'm obviously not a big guy. I'm not really going to get any big strides in. I try to be efficient in terms of my movement. Sometimes it gets me into trouble. But I think for me, that's generally what works. I try to play the ball as close to my body as possible," Bavuma said.
The South African skipper's 179, which came off 334 balls, was his highest Test score, surpassing his previous best of 172 against the West Indies in 2023. He admitted that the innings was particularly satisfying given his recent struggles to find rhythm.
"Yeah, definitely one of my better ones. I think looking at the situation of the game, and I think personally as well, I found myself a lot in those type of situations, coming in early, trying to manage myself to kind of scramble through to a 50 or 60, but I think what was nice and the ability just to take it even further and make it count," he said.
Bavuma also spoke about the challenge of facing Australia's formidable bowling attack, which includes several highly ranked Test bowlers. Having failed to make a significant contribution in the first Test, he was keen to make amends.
"So, I mean, we got a taste of it in the first Test, and we kind of knew what was up for us. So I think for me, obviously not being able to contribute from the first Test and then coming in here in the second Test, I think that was a big thing on my mind. But yeah, I was glad I was able to put in a good contribution for the team," he said.
The 36-year-old credited his work in the nets for helping him rediscover his touch after a difficult run through the ODI series and the first Test.
"I think I just haven't had any rhythm, to be honest with you. I kind of struggled with rhythm through the ODI series, even coming up to the first Test. So I think it was just a case of just trying to find a feeling.
It can be a bit tricky when you haven't played for months. Yeah, I was just trying to go into the nets and just trying to find the feeling that I kind of had last year," Bavuma said.
Bavuma's innings was supported by
Marco Jansen's 85 and Simon Harmer's 82, with the latter adding 183 runs with the captain. Praising their contributions, Bavuma said both batters played important roles in turning the innings around.
"Very brave innings from him," Bavuma said of Jansen, while he praised Harmer for showing "a lot of application" and felt the all-rounder was unlucky to miss out on a century.
With South Africa having fought back into the contest, Bavuma said the batting unit had done its part and the responsibility now rested with the bowlers.