Melbourne, Oct 15 (IANS): South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma believes "it's not all doom and gloom" for his side coming into the ICC T20 World Cup after losing both the T20I and ODI series to India and then immediately flying to Australia for the showpiece event.
Like India, who have lost pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Deepak Chahar to injuries, the Proteas too have been hit by a spate of injuries with right-arm quick Dwaine Pretorius and middle-order batter Rassie van der Dussen ruled out of the competition.
Pretorius was ruled out due to a fracture sustained to his left thumb during the recent T20I series against India, while Van der Dussen was ruled out with a left index finger injury which needed surgery last month. Tall left-arm fast bowler Marco Jansen has been named as replacement for Pretorius during the T20 World Cup.
Bavuma conceded it was disappointing to lose Pretorius to injury a couple of weeks before the World Cup but added Jansen, with his height and left-arm action, would cover up the loss.
"Yeah, Marco (Jansen) is obviously a big addition for us. He obviously comes in with extra bit of pace. He's a left-arm option as well that gives a bit more variety in our bowling attack. He comes at quite a steep length, as well. Excited to see Marco in the squad, he's been champing at the bit looking for his opportunity, so I guess we're excited to see how much value he can add within the team," said Bavuma, who himself didn't have a great series in India.
He added the squad was in good spirits despite "not having the best of series" in India.
"To be honest, I think the guys are in good spirits. We've obviously just come from India where we didn't have the best of series, but I think there's still a lot of confidence that we can take throughout our season and the performances that we've put together as a team.
"So, I mean, I think it's not all doom and gloom for us. We're excited. We're looking forward to this tournament and how far we can go. Probably not a lot of expectation around us as a team again. So I guess for us we'll be flying under the radar every day, doing the best that we can and preparing as well as we can for all the games and enjoy the journey, as well," added Bavuma.