Cricket has been taking place in the bio-bubble with all the protection, maintaining guidelines ever since it has started amid the crunch time of COVID-19 and all the teams have been preparing for the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE
Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Keshav Maharaj gave the inside of South Africa’s T20 camp in the UAE and discuss the team’s improvement as well in an interview with Betway.
South Africa Players Talk About Their Preparations And Approach For The T20 World Cup 2021
However, Van Der Dussen believes staying sane in this time in between their practice and preparation is the key to their performance as well in the T20 World Cup.
“We’re very well looked after,” says Van Der Dussen, on behalf of both himself and his wife Lara, a teacher, who has been allowed to enter the bio-secure bubble and teaches her classes virtually as well.
He continued: “We do spend a lot of time in the room, but we have a big TV and a lovely living space. You’ve got to keep active, obviously. I’ve got lots of fitness toys to play with and there are facilities in the hotel.”
Another player, veteran spinner Keshav Maharaj, revealed the makeshift setup as ‘not ideal’, but he shared that it is also working to make the best of this unusual preparation as well.
“It is what it is,” he expressed. “There are a lot of differences so I work hard to make myself feel as at home as possible. “I am a very clean and tidy person. I like neatness. There’s nothing worse than an untidy room and scruffy sheets.
“It really drives me mad. With no cleaners coming into the rooms I spend time making myself more comfortable by keeping my room in check.”
But the existence in the isolation is not healthy as well. However, they have a cordoned-off dining area in the hotel room where they eat, drink coffee, hang out or watch sport together as well.
Notably, on Saturday October 2, they gathered together to watch South Africa beat New Zealand 31-29 in The Rugby Championship. “Watching other South Africa teams connects us to home,” shared Maharaj.
While Van Der Dussen and Maharaj are both veteran cricketers, Reeza Hendricks and Dwaine Pretorius have made headlines in the last 12 months, Moreover, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and a few others are in great form too.
While Mark Boucher is the head coach, other veteran South Africa players like JP Duminy and Charl Langeveldt are added as the coaching staff. They are all relatively new to the job and the team are gearing up for the mega event as well.
However, they have recently won the Test and T20 series in the Caribbean, T20 series against Ireland and Sri Lanka in July and September showed how they have improved in recent times. Meanwhile, the captaincy has also changed where Temba Bavuma took the permanent reigns as South Africa’s T20 skipper in March as well.
“We’ve had a good year,” said Van Der Dussen. “We’ve been in different conditions and we’ve adapted really well. “A year ago we were certainly less experienced. We’re in a good place now.”
“It came as a surprise to me,” he further added. “There was plenty of initial anxiety and fear, I guess, as to how I could take the team to new heights, but actually I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m lucky that I’ve played with lots of the guys from school level so the understanding is there and the respect is there. I feel that they are behind me.”
Temba Bavuma came in the South Africa setup when Proteas legends AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Morne Morkel were the regular faces of the playing eleven.
“I draw a lot of inspiration from Amla, particularly,” he expressed. “He is similar to me as a player, too, in the sense that he wasn’t considered a classic T20 player but remodeled his game.”
He added: “Playing with these guys and watching them prepare has given me great experience to pass onto the rest of the squad. I might prepare like Amla, for example, but someone like David Miller, who comes in at the back end of the innings, may prepare like De Villiers.”
However, mental preparation is equally important as physical for Van der Dussen, who is desperate not to burnout before the marquee event as well.
“You put in all the hours that you need to and then on game night it’s pretty intense. I get my practice done and then mentally switch off so that next time I’m on the field my mind is 100 per cent ready to go,” he concluded.