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October 14, 2024
South African captain Temba Bavuma has been ruled out of the first Test against Bangladesh, which will take place at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. Cricket South Africa announced on Friday that Bavuma has sustained a strain in his left tricep muscle.
Despite this setback, Bavuma will travel with the team to Dhaka on Tuesday to continue his recovery under the care of the medical staff as he prepares for the second Test. In his absence, Aiden Markram will captain the team. Additionally, Dewald Brevis has been called up to the Test squad for the first time as Bavuma’s replacement.
Lungi Ngidi has been named as a replacement for Nandre Burger, who will miss the tour to Bangladesh due to a lumbar stress fracture. Burger will start his rehabilitation with the medical teams from Cricket South Africa and Western Province.
Read More: Masood Urges Bowlers to Improve as Pakistan Reshuffles Selection Panel
The squad will gather for a red-ball training camp at the Centre of Excellence in Pretoria from October 12 to 14, ahead of the two-match Test series that begins on October 21.
Updated Squad:
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Bangladesh fielding coach Nic Pothas stated that the team is still determining the best role for Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the T20I lineup. He noted that the ongoing series against India serves as a valuable learning opportunity.
Mehidy, who is 26 years old, has returned to the T20I squad after a 14-month absence due to Shakib Al Hasan’s retirement from this format. With another veteran, Mahmudullah, also stepping back from T20Is, the team management must decide which role Mehidy will take on.
While Mehidy hasn’t yet proven himself as a bowler who can consistently bowl four overs in T20Is, he has the potential to fill the finisher’s role currently held by Mahmudullah, as he can play aggressively and extend innings.
Interestingly, to make room for Mehidy in the team, regular off-spinner Sheikh Mahedi has been dropped. Mahedi is known for his ability to bowl effectively during the PowerPlay and can also contribute with the bat lower down the order.
“It’s very conditions based and we’re very fortunate to have Miraz because he can bat at the top of the order and he can bat at the middle order and we have seen the progress he has made from a batting point of view,” Pothas told reporters ahead of the Hyderabad T20I on Friday.
“You know we have tried him at the top with the ball which he has done well in the past. The last game, it can happen, it’s T20. He gives us options because he has three skills which are of a very high quality.
“So at the moment because he wasn’t at the T20 World Cup again we are going to be using him in different positions to actually find a role where he will play for the future. But at the moment we are very fortunate to have a international cricketer of his standing to be able to use wherever we think he fits in for that particular game and conditions,” he said.
Pothas mentioned that the tour of India is a valuable learning experience for the team, highlighting the significant gap between the two sides. He emphasized that Bangladesh should not be judged solely based on their performance during this tour.
“You guys generally go good, bad, win, lose. We have a very different way of looking at things. We played against the best team of the world India. If we measure pure outcome, there are a lot of countries with bad tours in India. What we have to look at are the learning, we have to look at the future of what we have coming up with Champions Trophy, T20s and we have to look at the end of some of the legends that are finishing for Bangladesh.
“We look at the tour in a very different way. We always enter the game to win, we have to do that cause that’s the nature of the sport in international level. We are very fortunate to be touring India because we can get a lot of learning done. The learning has to be honest and what learning does when you play here is it drives you on,” he said.
“India lets you know where you have to be improve. So you have to be very eyes open when you come to India,” he said.
Elaborating on the lessons, he added: “So the learning is how to absorb pressure for long periods of time, how do you read the game better under pressure but most importantly how you prepare. That has to evolve that has to change all the time but as I said it is a privilege always to play against India,” he said.
“When it comes to performance, I think we have very short memories. We’ve just come from Pakistan where we have won a series in Pakistan which we have never done before,” he said.
“We’ve just came from New Zealand where we won games which has never happened before. We’re very good at knowing what happened yesterday and what’s happening now but we are not very good at acknowledging the path of the last 12 months. Over the past 12 months there have been huge improvement. So there’s no magic beans or bullet but what we can see that there is a huge amount of improvement. So let’s acknowledge that,” he said.
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