South Africa coach Shukri Conrad reacts to Temba Bavuma being called ‘Bauna’ by Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant

Temba Bavuma starred with a captain’s knock in the Proteas’ second innings, helping them win the test.

Following South Africa‘s victory over India in the opening test match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday, head coach Shukri Conrad made a significant statement regarding the “Bauna” incident involving captain Temba Bavuma.

After taking out Aiden Markram, Bumrah had his tail up when the incident happened in the last ball of the 13th over.

Bavuma made a hard protest after the ball struck his pads, but the umpire rejected it. The pacer decided to talk to Pant about getting a DRS referral.  

Bavuma was described by Bumrah as being “Bauna” (short in height), and he inquired if he should follow through on the recommendation. Pant persuaded him otherwise, claiming that despite the height of the Proteas captain, the ball was passing over the leg stump.

Pant’s decision was validated when the Hawkeye demonstrated that the ball was, in fact, passing over the stumps by a whisker. But Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Bavuma for three runs off 11 balls, so he wouldn’t survive long.

Shukri Conrad makes a cheeky remark when asked about Temba Bavuma being called Bauna by Indian players

With a tough 55 off 136 deliveries to give the visitors a vital second-innings advantage, Bavuma turned out to be the game-winning player for his team. India were hauled out for only 93, chasing 124 runs to win, in retaliation.  

South Africa’s head coach, Shukri Conrad, made a humorous remark about the incident after the victory, saying that the captain of South Africa has a “heart like a giant.”

“Thankfully, he has got a heart like a giant,” Conrad said at the post-match press conference.

Bavuma acknowledged that their 30-run triumph over India in the first test was largely down to the lower-order partnerships with Corbin Bosch and Marco Jansen.

Bavuma’s half-century was aided by a 44-run stand with Bosch, following a brief 16-run stand with Jansen.

“Very exciting. You want to be a part of those types of games and obviously be on the right side of the result. I think we tried to hold our ground as much as we could. We knew it was going to be tough with the bat; it was tough for us, but we needed to exploit what was there. I think we guys did that beautifully.

Fortunately, things have worked out quite well. Our bowlers got us back into the game, but that partnership with Bosch, and I think a little bit with Marco as well, at the end of the day, just gave a little bit of impetus that we could play a little bit better this morning. It wasn’t as extreme, but we were able to get a partnership,” Bavuma said.

The second and final test of the series will begin in Guwahati from November 22.

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