Bumrah’s ‘bauna’ comment made noise, but Bavuma’s leadership is making the real impact

“He has got a heart like a giant” —  South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad delivered the perfect response to the controversy surrounding Jasprit Bumrah’s “bauna” comment that was directed towards Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma in Kolkata.

Conrad was asked the question during the press conference following South Africa’s 30-run victory over India at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Sunday. And his comment isn’t one that’s implausible either; Bavuma is carving quite the legacy for himself as a leader, and certainly has made South African cricket great again.

A healing touch on a fractured South African dressing room

The 35-year-old had taken over Test captaincy at a time of great uncertainty. South Africa, after all, had been going through a rapid decline since the highs of their 3-1 series victory over Australia at home in 2018. Conrad had thrown his weight behind Bavuma in early 2023, his gut feeling telling him that the diminutive batter who was as tough on the field as he was soft-spoken off it was the answer to South Africa’s problems.

Bavuma, who has also been in charge of the ODI side since 2021, had also become the country’s first black Test captain at a time when South African cricket was going through one of its darkest periods. Not just because of its lack of results on the field but because of the ‘Social Justice and Nation-Building’ hearings off it that shed light on racism within South African cricket since their readmission in 1991, which had left the dressing room even more fractured.

Bavuma must have had a healing touch of sorts on the Proteas dressing room, for the results began to show not long after. After a dismal campaign in the 2019 ICC World Cup, South Africa bounced back in style in the 2023 edition in India with a clinical campaign in which they finished second on the table and eventually bowed out with a heartbreaking semi-final defeat.

More than one-dayers, it was in the Test arena where Bavuma’s magical touch as a captain had an even greater effect, with South Africa not only surging ahead of India and Australia to finish top of the 2023-25 WTC standings but going on to defeat the latter in the final at Lord’s in June.

For a team that had become accustomed to heartbreaks in ICC knockout matches across formats, the five-wicket victory over then-defending champions Australia at the ‘Home of Cricket’ was a much-needed healing touch, one that will have helped the Proteas finally conquer the stage fright that used to grip them in the big-ticket games.

Also Read | Temba Bavuma: The poster boy of ‘racial quota’ criticism inspires South Africa past the ‘chokers’ tag

For a team to truly establish itself as world-class, it has to deliver results not just at home and in familiar conditions, but also in countries where it has historically struggled. And while Bavuma had delivered one of the greatest triumphs in the history of South African cricket in the summer, there was still the question of whether his side was gritty enough to eke out wins in Asia.

Their tour of the subcontinent that began with a two-Test series in Pakistan last month wasn’t off to an ideal start, with Bavuma and Co suffering a 93-run loss in Lahore. And in the next game in Rawalpindi, they faced the prospect of conceding a sizeable lead at 235/8 in response to the hosts’ score of 333.

This South African team, however, is built differently; Bavuma and Conrad have shaped this side into one that just refuses to give up, no matter what the situation. Thanks to an epic fightback from the lower order, the Proteas not only collected a 71-run lead at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, they ended up leveling the series with an eight-wicket win – their first on Pakistani soil in 18 years.

A Test victory in India after 15 years

That was followed by a two-match Test series in India, a country where they had suffered 3-0 defeats in their last two visits in 2015 and 2019, with just one game ending in a draw across these two trips. And the series wasn’t off to a great start either, with the Proteas getting bundled out for 159 in their first essay thanks to Bumrah’s stellar haul of 5/27.

It was Bumrah’s “bauna” (dwarf) comment during his discussion with wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant following an unsuccessful LBW appeal against Bavuma that became the biggest talking point in the three-day affair in the ‘City of Joy’.

And while the star pacer might have remarked in jest, it highlighted the fact that 5 ft 4 inches Bavuma was still not being taken seriously as a leader in other parts of the world, even if he had become a national sporting hero back home for his impact on South African cricket.

As was the case with the WTC final as well as the second Test against Pakistan, Bavuma and the Proteas once again let their cricketing skills do the talking. And Bavuma isn’t someone likely to be affected by such comments – he had, after all, grown up in the township of Langa near Cape Town, where life was as difficult as it was uncertain.

What highlighted the fact that he is built differently was his unbeaten 55 in the second innings . On a surface where none of the other batters, even the Indians, touched 40, the South African captain batted for more than three fours and faced 136 balls in a display of determination and grit to ensure they went past the 150 for the second time, and that their bowlers had more than enough cushion to bowl them to their first victory on Indian soil in 15 years.

Veteran off-spinner Simon Harmer ended up collecting another four-fer, his figures of 4/21 and Marco Jansen’s early strikes helping South Africa bowl India out for just 93 after setting them a tricky 124 to win.

And while Harmer was later adjudged the Player of the Match, it was Bavuma’s defiant knock and his crucial eighth-wicket partnership with Corbin Bosch that proved to be the turning point of the game, and has South Africa within reach of a first Test series victory in India in 25 years.

Bavuma may be small in stature, but he has the heart of a giant indeed.