“This was not South Africa’s best playing XI” - Gautam Gambhir reckons Temba Bavuma should not have played 2023 World Cup semi-final 

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir feels South African captain Temba Bavuma should not have played the 2023 World Cup semi-final against Australia since he was not 100 percent fit. Gambhir added that the Proteas paid the price for not going in with their best XI in the knockout game.

South Africa’s hunt for their maiden World Cup trophy will continue as they went down to Australia by three wickets in the second semi-final of the 2023 World Cup at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday. Batting first, the Proteas were bowled out for 212. In response, Australia got home in 47.2 overs in a tense chase.

South African captain Bavuma played the semi-final despite not being fully fit. Gambhir was critical of the Proteas skipper’s decision and commented that he should have opted out of the knockout game.

In an interaction with Sportskeeda, the former India opener refused to agree with the observation that South Africa’s World Cup fortunes are jinxed.

“I don’t think it’s a jinx, absolutely not. If you don’t play your best playing XI, you will get such results. First thing, Temba Bavuma should not be captaining South Africa. Secondly, the captain was not 100 percent fit. Third, he wasn’t scoring runs as well. If you are not 100 percent fit and, for a minute, put team ahead of self, you will realize yourself that you are not fully fit [to play],” Gambhir commented.

“After coming out for the toss and then saying that ‘I am not 100 percent fit and still I will be fine’, it just shows that you just want to play that occasion. This was not South Africa’s best playing XI. You are playing the semi-final and if you don’t pick your best XI, then these are the kind of results you will get,” the 2011 World Cup-winner added.

Bavuma was dismissed for a four-ball duck, caught behind off Mitchel Starc. South Africa crumbled to 24/4 before David Miller (101) lent some respectability to the innings.

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“If Reeza Hendricks had played, South Africa would have been a better side” - Gambhir on Bavuma playing semis

Elaborating his thoughts on Bavuma’s decision to play the semi-final despite not being fully fit, Gambhir opined that Reeza Hendricks would have been a better choice for the crunch game. He added that South Africa have only themselves to blame for failing in World Cup knockout matches.

“If you call it a jinx, then it has to break sometime. But that is not happening because somewhere you are making mistakes. If Reeza Hendricks had played in the semi-final, South Africa would have been a better side. He is one of the best batters in South Africa’s top six. Unfortunately, Temba Bavuma is not. He was not even 100 percent fit,” the 42-year-old opined.

Bavuma had an extremely poor 2023 World Cup campaign, scoring 145 runs in eight innings at an average of 18.12, with a best of 35.