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South Africa captain Temba Bavuma stated that he is not '100 per cent' fit, and the team will later decide if he will play in Thursday's semifinal clash against Australia in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023.
The Proteas captain pulled his hamstring during a match against Afghanistan and is questionable for the Australia clash in Kolkata. Bavuma mentioned that he is 'quite confident' of playing in the semi-final against Australia. "Physically I feel alright. Obviously not 100%. So obviously this day becomes important in terms of decisions about tomorrow. I'm quite confident, but I mean, it's not a unilateral decision that will be made. In a state of mind, obviously a bit nervous about the game. It will be our first semi-final as a team. But I think the feeling is no different I guess from any game that we've encountered within the World Cup," Bavuma said in a pre-match press conference. "I think it's just using the rest day continue with my continue with my rehab - I'll still be continuing with my rehab today on the field doing some fielding stuff. Yeah, I can't tell you medically, but I think for me from a feeling point of view, that's what I can attest to," he added. As Proteas are gearing up to take on five-time champions Australia on Thursday in turning Eden Gardens pitch, Bavuma did not rule out the possibility of playing two spinners in their playing XI. "Yeah, I mean, I'd love to say, I mean, if it is up to me, I'm definitely playing our two front-line spinners. Obviously, Keshav and Shamsi. We obviously have Aiden (Markram) as well, who also gives us an option there. Then I think it's just finalising in terms of the three seamers, who that may be. But I mean, as you say, conditions, opposition as well, really give that as an option for us," Bavuma said. South Africa reaches the semifinal on the back of spectacular performances against Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Pakistan and England. However, the Proteas suffered defeat against India and Netherlands. "I guess they're all important in the semifinals. I think like you say with the way we've performed as a team it's obviously created a lot of positive sentiment but obviously high expectations. A lot of people believe that this could be the year that we see ourselves in the final. And I mean, look as a team, individually we'd like nothing better than that. But we also respect the game of cricket. You know, we're not coming up against a Mickey Mouse team. Australia have a lot of experience and confidence in knockout games like this, so we've got to respect that," the South Africa captain said. "I'd hate to say that we deserve to go through because of the way we played our cricket. I don't think that's the way things go. But I think from our performances, from the processes that we've followed to get to this point, we'll continue to lean on that and we believe that will take care of the result in itself," he added. (ANI)
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