In Bavuma’s absence, Aiden Markram will take over the captaincy duties for the under-pressure South African side. The team currently trails 2-1 in the five-match ODI series against Australia, having already lost the preceding T20Is 3-0.

The first match of the three-match series between South Africa and West Indies was abandoned due to rain. And in the second match, West Indies beat the hosts by 48 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the series. While Proteas captain Bavuma’s century eclipsed Hope, the hero of the Caribbean victory. In the second match of the series, the two captains of the two teams fought with the bat. West Indies won the toss and decided to bat at Buffalo Park in East London. The two Caribbean openers, King and Myers, got off to a good start.

After breaking the opening pair, West Indies lost 3 wickets for four runs. But then the Caribbean captain Shai Hope took the lead of the team. West Indies got a huge collection of 335 runs based on his 115-ball unbeaten innings of 128 runs. Hope’s innings of 128 runs had five fours and seven sixes. Hope is joined by Rovman Powell and Nicholas Puranra. Powell scored 46 and Puran scored 39 runs. Gerald Coetzee took 3 wickets for South Africa. Fortune and Shamsi got two wickets each.

The Proteas got off to a good start chasing huge runs in reply. 76 runs from the opening pair. But after De Kock’s dismissal, no one could stay at the crease for long. But the captain Temba Bavuma kept the hope of winning the match by keeping one end. But Bavuma did not find any suitable partner. The innings of two debutant batsmen Tony De Giorgi 14 and Ryan Rickelton 27 did not help the team much. Veteran Rassie von der Dussen could not go into double figures. Bavuma’s innings of 144 runs ended with a catch as the ninth batsman. The hosts were all out with 50 balls to spare. Among the Caribbean bowlers, Aqeel Hossain and Alzari Josep took 3 wickets each. The third match of the series will be held on March 21.

Aiden Markram is the new captain of the South Africa T20 team. Besides, JP Duminy has been appointed as the batting coach, and Rory Kleinveldt is the bowling coach. While Duminy was appointed as the permanent coach, Kleinveldt took charge only for the Windies series. Markram was announced as the captain ahead of the T20 series at home against the West Indies. Previous captain Temba Bavuma has been dropped from the squad. Fap du Plessis is also out

In 2014, Duminy’s leadership led South Africa to win the Under-19 World Cup. He also recently led Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA T20 League. His leadership also saw the franchise win its maiden SA20 title. That is why the selectors have faith in him. Earlier in 2018, he also led the South Africa ODI team in the absence of du Plessis. However, Seva’s captaincy affected his performance. At that time he scored only 118 runs at an average of 23.60 in five matches.

The first T20 match will be played on March 25 and the second on March 26 at Centurion. Then the third and final T20 of the series will be played in Johannesburg on March 26.

South Africa T20 Team: Aiden Markram (captain), Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reza Hendricks, Marco Janssen, Henrich Klaasen, Sisanda Magala, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Enrich Norkia, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Riley Russo, Tabrez Shamsi, Tristen Stubbs.

“It’s been a tricky time,” an emotional Bavuma said after the shock defeat to the Netherlands. “To be considered that now, a lot of it will be emotional, in terms of my role as captain within the team. It’s something I will think about. I will speak to the relevant people. We have to see who comes in as a coach. Generally, when you have changes like that, they might come in with a different style. They might find a different leader to execute whatever vision or style of play they have. It will be emotional now if I think about all of that.”

Bavuma’s leadership – as someone who took over during a captaincy vacuum and then held the team together after a board directive to take a knee at last year’s tournament led to Quinton de Kock sitting out a crucial game – has long been lauded as exemplary but his ability as a T20 player, less so. Bavuma has 635 T20I runs to his name, at an average of 22.67 and a strike rate of 116.08. Going into this tournament, he had scored 11 runs in four white-ball innings – including two ducks – following a three-month layoff with an elbow injury. In his absence, Reeza Hendricks had reeled off four consecutive fifties on South Africa’s tour of the UK but sat out once Bavuma returned amid a chorus of questions over his form. He managed only 14 runs in three innings this tournament before a 19-ball 36 against Pakistan, a match South Africa lost, and then 20 off 20 today.

Throughout, Bavuma was acutely aware of the noise around him and admitted it affected him. “Mentally, it does eat at you as a player,” Bavuma said. “You try to manage your mental space as much as you can. You try to control what gets to you but with social media, whatever is being said out there always gets to you,” he said. “I always try to keep a level head, through all the good and the bad times. I try to be as close to myself as possible. Not just for myself but for this group. We are going to take a lot of flack as a group and rightly so.”

Bavuma expects criticism over his decision to bowl first on a surface where chasing always appeared tricky but believed his attack had enough firepower to justify that decision. “When you decide that, you expect us to put them under pressure with the ball. We didn’t do that,” he said.

He also expects criticism over the way South Africa approached the chase, with a distinct lack of energy, and he accepts something was amiss. “We still had the responsibility with the bat and we just couldn’t get any type of momentum or flow to our innings. We couldn’t adapt to the slow nature of the wicket.” Bavuma said. “You can pick at a lot of things. It’s disappointing for all of us.”
And even though he expects South Africa to continue to be labeled chokers, Bavuma maintains that South Africa did not take their position as group leaders at one stage, having already gone through all their so-called tough games, for granted. “I wouldn’t say I felt a different type of pressure [playing the Netherlands compared to the other games]. We knew we had to win the game and we didn’t win the game. We played against India and we knew we had to win that game and we won that game. What was different then, I don’t know.”

He also doesn’t know what is next for the South African T20 side and doesn’t have to think about it for several months. South Africa’s next assignment is a three-Test series against Australia, where Malibongwe Maketa has been named interim coach and Bavuma will slip back into the vice-captaincy role. Their next white-ball games are World Cup Super League ODIs in late January against England, which is virtual must-wins if they hope to secure direct entry into next year’s fifty-over World Cup. If they don’t, they will go through a qualifying tournament in June. It’s all pressure from here on and Bavuma knows that. “I am going to have to try and find a way to bounce back. We are going to have to find a way to bounce back, and try to get back to the good old days,” he said.

Whether he will be the one to lead them there, may not be up to him at all but, “whatever happens, I think I carried myself with dignity,” he said. “Through all the good and bad times, if I were to leave, I would leave with my pride intact.”