Temba Bavuma has not fully recovered from an elbow injury, thus he will not play in the second Test match against Bangladesh, which begins on Tuesday. In his absence, Aiden Markram will captain the team in anticipation of Bavuma’s availability for the home Test match against Sri Lanka the following month.
Shukri Conrad, the Test coach for South Africa, stated from Dhaka, “We just feel medically he’s not going to be ready for the second Test.” “We will tone down the [rehabilitation] programme so that he can be ready for the Sri Lankan series.”

Whether Bavuma will remain with the team in Bangladesh or go back home to finish his recuperation and play domestic red-ball cricket has not yet been determined. Bavuma’s squad, the Lions, will play three games prior to the first Test match against Sri Lanka when the first-class championship kicks off next week.
“I’d like him to stay [in Bangladesh], and I’ve communicated that with him,” said Conrad. However, I am also aware that he has a young family. However, I do want him to remain. He continues to be useful. His crew is still in place. We’ll see how things work out.
In an ODI match against Ireland earlier this month, Bavuma suffered the injury after tripping and falling while trying to finish a run. In that game, he was unable to field and retired injured on 35. Bavuma sustained the injury on the same elbow during a 2022 T20I trip of India. He was unable to travel to England later that year with South Africa because of it.
Unless South Africa choose to add a spinner or an additional all-rounder to their XI, Matthew Breetzke, who made his debut in the first Test match against Bangladesh in Mirpur, might be kept at No. 6 in Bavuma’s place. Senuran Muthusamy, a left-hander who bowls left-arm spin, might be a substitute.
Using a four-bowler assault consisting of two seamers and two spinners, South Africa defeated Bangladesh for 106 in the first innings to win the Mirpur Test. The man Conrad referred to as “our superstar Rolls Royce fast bowler,” Kagiso Rabada, who claimed nine wickets in the game, including his 300th and his first five-for in the subcontinent, received particular praise from Conrad. “We are an inexperienced side but we still need our leaders,” Conrad stated. “KB took the ball and led from the front there. As he has done for some time, he carried this attack. … supported by several quite important efforts from both batsmen and other ball players.”
“I found the tranquility we shown throughout to be the most appealing thing. Even when things were not going our way, there was nothing desperate about it. I felt quite satisfied with the way we conducted our business. As a squad and as individuals, we remained very composed and explicit about our game plans. That struck me as the most notable aspect.
South Africa is still vying for a spot in the World Test Championship final after their victory in Mirpur. South Africa will enter all of those games as the favorites based on paper and past performance, but Conrad is being cautious not to get ahead of himself.
The first time we had to work hard was during the first Test match. It is quite unlikely that we will be aiming to maintain our advantage or overindulge in the celebration of that triumph. We know that our trip to Chattogram tomorrow will be extremely difficult and that we will need to play really well in cricket. If the outcome there is excellent, we will go to Sri Lanka.
The World Test Championship is our World Cup, but we won’t be making any sandcastles or having any pie in the sky, but you have to give yourself permission to dream. Then give yourself the opportunity to make that goal a reality. However, we’re still a long way off from there, and it will require a lot of graft.”
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