South Africa captain and a member of the ‘A’ team’s unofficial Test series in Bengaluru, Temba Bavuma was the final member to join the senior squad on Monday morning as the visitors gathered in full force ahead of Friday’s opening Test match against India at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Head coach Shukri Conrad, the pace combination of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, and the players who played in the white-ball series in Pakistan were among the first group of South Africans to arrive on Sunday morning.
“Bavuma, along with another player and a few officials, arrived this morning from Bengaluru. Most of the squad including the head coach had already checked in on Sunday,” a PTI report quoted the South Africa team’s local manager as saying.
“So, South Africa now have their full contingent in. There’s no activity scheduled at the Eden today… Most likely, both teams will have their first training session on Tuesday.”
After missing the beginning of South Africa’s World Test Championship title defence during the two-match Test series in Pakistan due to a calf strain, Bavuma made a comeback for the ‘A’ team in their second unofficial Test against India A in Bengaluru.
In the second and final game of the series, which ended on Sunday, the SA captain, who was playing for Marques Ackerman in the A side, was dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings but struck a resolute 101-ball 59 in the second to help his team win by five wickets.
Zubayr Hamza, a middle-order batsman who played both ‘A’ matches in Bengaluru but did not get to play in the 1-1 drawn Test series in Pakistan, also joined the main squad in Kolkata.
Hamza, a potent player of spin, scored two half-centuries, including a 77 in the second innings of the last match at the Centre of Excellence.
This will be the final Test series of the year for South Africa, the current World Test champions.
In September next year, they will play a three-Test home series against Australia and then another three-match home series against England as their next red-ball assignments.
