Kolkata: Among the things intriguing and interesting about the India-South Africa Test series is the story of two captains. One more comfortable in his own skin now that South Africa are world champions and the other, a leading all-format batter supervising transition even as he set making the World Test Championship final as a benchmark.
Two Test series old as captain – his debut in that role in England was the stuff of dreams – Shubman Gill, 26, is still getting used to the time difference with Australia and the changes needed from slam-bang to the format that tests you like no other.
“There are different challenges when you play in India as compared to playing in Australia. But you know these challenges will be thrown at you. It is how you tackle them. The challenge is more mental than physical,” said Gill ahead of his first Test at Eden which is holding one after six years.
If there is a silver lining to this, it is that having begun his IPL career here, Gill said Eden feels like home.
Two years after struggling with fitness and form ahead of the ODI World Cup semi-final, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma returns to Eden Gardens not having to prove himself to “the players or the people back home that I’m deserving of this title.” Personally, there has been a lot more appreciation for my presence in the team, said Bavuma, South Africa’s first full-time black captain.
One who is now leading a side where one c-word, chokers, has been replaced by another, confidence. “Confidence is probably the biggest word back home. I think now for us it’s about being confident that we can continue being the number one team.”
Captaincy, Bavuma said, has been a process of discovery. “You’re always learning a little bit about yourself. You start off with maybe an understanding as to how you want to go about things from a leadership point of view. But then as time goes by, as things happen, you work with different coaching, you evolve. I think now, I think I’m a lot more comfortable in my own skin.
“You have your ambitions and expectations. But you also know that life can happen, you can come against opposition who are as good as you are and, on their day, they can show you up. So, I take it day by day, just try and enjoy it.”
For Gill, captaincy is predicated on how he can succeed as a batter.“It’s a conscious effort that whenever I am going out there as a batsman, I don’t want to think how I would make a decision if I was the captain. When you think that, you put too much pressure on yourself….” Once that happens, he can let his instincts take over when they are fielding, said Gill.
Like Gill, Bavuma has adjustments of his own to make. Of getting back into the groove following a long injury lay-off. Bavuma, 35, has not played a Test after South Africa became world Test champions beating Australia last June.
To that end, the match against India A, where he scored 59 in the second innings after being out for zero in the first, and played Kuldeep Yadav – “because you need a little bit of time to get used to him,” he said – helped.
“The biggest thing was getting back on the field, proving my fitness, spending some time in the crease and trying to make whatever adjustments that I need to with conditions here in the subcontinent.”
At the start of a new cycle, the captains said making the title-round two years from now would be the target. “That is the benchmark,” said Gill.
“We started the Test cycle with the ambition of seeing ourselves in the final again. Yes, winning the Test championship, that’s big especially for a team outside the big three. But we’d like to see ourselves after four years where we measure up as a team,” said Bavuma. Proud as they are of the world champions’ badge, he said that cannot really be considered as a proper legacy.
Doing a number on India can. “There are not many bigger challenges than that. Not much can trump winning the World Test Championship but second to that, I think, would be beating India.”
Asked if he got any ideas from how New Zealand did that, Bavuma said he asked for pointers from Kane Williamson (who did not play in their last series in India) recently in Mumbai. “He wasn’t too open about it but he did say that make sure that you win the toss. So, I’ll be practising my coin-toss skills.” Given how Gill’s luck with the toss has been, he too could do with some practice.
