ICC World Cup 2023: Bavuma mindful of how good or bad Pak can be

Temba Bavuma during a practice session yesterday. Pic/PTI

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma, who missed the last couple of games - against England and Bangladesh - due to illness, is now feeling a lot better to return against Pakistan at the MA Chidambaram Stadium today.

Even though Pakistan are struggling, having lost their last three games, Bavuma admitted that Pakistan have always given them a tough time. "We don't have a great record, to be honest, against Pakistan in ODIs [Pak have won 6 out of the last 10 ODIs v SA. Overall, the Proteas have won 51 times as against Pak's 30]. I think with everything that is happening around their team humbles us as a team. I guess [it's about] pulling ourselves back and make sure we still focus on playing good cricket," Bavuma said during the pre-match press conference on Thursday.

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The Proteas skipper remarked that SA are ready to outclass the unpredictable Pak team. "I saw a comment that described Pakistan as mercurial. I had to Google the word, but it spoke about how a team can be good one day and not so good on another day. So, we want to make sure that when they're good, we are good as well," Bavuma remarked.

When asked what he feels about his team's chokers tag, he said: "It's still early in the tournament. There's still going to be pressure situations that we're going to overcome. If we stumble, we'll probably have to deal with that tag again. But for us as a team, we're looking at other ways to be able to deal with the pressure and expectations that come with being on the field."