South Africa Test skipper Temba Bavuma will make his comeback from a calf strain on the South Africa A tour of India later this month, with medical staff clearing him for the second of two four-day matches in Bengaluru.
“It’s been a frustrating few weeks, but the calf is responding and I’m itching to get out there,” Bavuma said shortly after the squad was announced. He picked up the injury during the limited-overs leg of the England tour in September and has since missed both the Pakistan Tests and the upcoming ODI series.
Key dates are simple enough: two first-class games at the BCCI Centre of Excellence from 30 October to 9 November, followed by three fifty-over fixtures in Rajkot between 13 and 19 November. Those matches dovetail neatly with the senior side’s trip, which runs from 14 November to 19 December and covers two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is.
Marques Ackerman, the Dolphins left-hander who keeps churning out runs at domestic level, will lead the A side. He is joined by top-order batter Zubayr Hamza and off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen, both currently in Pakistan with the Test party. “We wanted a blend of players who are already in the system and those knocking loudly on the door,” selection convenor Victor Mpitsang explained. Seam bowler Codi Yusuf, quietly impressive in white-ball internationals, also gets a look-in.
Teenager Kwena Maphaka headlines the 50-over squad. The tall left-arm quick has shrugged off a hamstring niggle that kept him out of the Pakistan white-ball leg. Bowling coach Rory Kleinveldt is keen to see him operate on Indian pitches: “The surfaces will ask different questions, and that’s exactly what a 19-year-old needs.”
For Bavuma the assignment is mainly about overs and time in the middle before the first Test in Hyderabad on 14 November. South Africa’s last visit to India saw them lift the World Test Championship mace; starting the new cycle without their captain has felt odd. “He sets standards in the field and calms the dressing-room,” Ackerman noted. “Having him, even for one game, settles everyone.”
The schedule is packed and conditions will vary, yet the brief remains clear—give fringe players proper exposure and ease the captain back into rhythm. That, most involved agree, is more valuable than any headline result.
