Temba Bavuma’s superb century in the second ODI against England underlined that he is an asset to the 50-over squad, but it doesn’t explain why he was made T20I captain and why he still appears to be the chosen leader in the format.
Bavuma’s 109 off 102 balls, was great in the context of ODI cricket, but isn’t any proof of T20 credentials.
The white-ball skipper has a better track record in Tests and ODIs – and success in those formats doesn’t vindicate his selection in T20Is when clearly under pressure and out of sorts.
Unfortunately, T20 cricket top-order batters aren’t allowed a great deal of leeway when it comes to playing themselves in, with the format rewarding aggressive batting from ball one.
Among Proteas batters who have faced 200 balls or more in T20I cricket in the last two seasons, Bavuma has the lowest strike rate, consuming 481 balls to contribute 559 runs.
The man closest in strike rate to Bavuma is the Proteas crisis management expert Rassie van der Dussen, who bats in the middle order.
Bavuma’s team-mates
Four other top-order batsmen meet the criteria of facing 200 balls or more in the last two years, and they all strike at a higher rate than the T20 skipper.
Since his return to the international set-up, Rilee Rossouw has modelled the English T20 philosophy to his team-mates.
Quinton de Kock has shouldered the highest burden of balls faced in that time and scored the most runs at a respectable strike rate of 141.36.
In this period, Aiden Markram sports excellent numbers, scoring 861 runs off 578 balls.
The ceiling of Bavuma’s scoring rate in T20 cricket is considerably lower than the elite international standard set for top-order batsmen by the likes of India, England and even New Zealand.
He might be better suited to a middle-order role, but that would mean displacing one of David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen or van der Dussen.
While the stats show that Bavuma is the weakest link among the established Proteas T20 batters, if he is backed as skipper, he should be allowed a clean slate in his chosen role.
The Proteas team management will need to make the call on whether Bavuma best serves the T20 set-up, but that is not the most pressing concern with high-stakes matches in the other two formats coming up.
Bavuma is set to play an important role in all of those matches and for now the T20 question moves to the backburner, even as it simmers.