ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Temba Bavuma feels that South Africa could have been more decisive in their victory against Sri Lanka

Temba Bavuma, the captain of South Africa, said he was happy with his players’ individual accomplishments but demanded a clinical performance from his bowlers after his team’s 428/5 total against Sri Lanka in the tournament opener at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi set a new record for the highest total in Cricket World Cup history.

Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, and Aiden Markram all scored century as South Africa crushed Sri Lanka by 102 runs in their first Cricket World Cup game.

When sent in to bat, the Proteas hitters toyed with the Sri Lankan bowlers, scoring quickfire century in the form of van der Dussen (108 off 110 balls), Markram (106 off 54), and de Kock (100 off 84).

“(I’m) content. We achieved our goal of winning. There is nothing wrong with you as a batter. A clinical performance was requested by (us), but it was not provided. Individual performances were strong, he stated after the game.

“The fact that we lost the toss was perhaps for the best. After the powerplay, the ball was easier to get on the bat. The idea was to adapt to the environment; we anticipated that it would be a little more unpredictable. probably wasn’t quick enough to adapt,” he added.

In response, Dasun Shanaka recovered his form to hit 68, Kusal Mendis shone at the top with a quick 76, Charith Asalanka top scored with 79 in the middle order, and Dasun Mendis blasted a quick 76.

Though Sri Lanka performed hard to score 326 runs in 44.5 overs, keeping South Africa on the field for as long as they could, the mark was much over their ability.

Dasun Shanaka, the captain of Sri Lanka, said that their first match of the Cricket World Cup was marred by execution issues.

I anticipated a high-scoring contest. Markram, Quinny, and Rassie all scored high hundreds. We often missed distances, and our execution was subpar. We must adjust it when we play again,” Shanaka stated.

Given the form of Asalanka and Mendis, we had anticipated holding them to 350–370 runs, but we were unable to handle the additional runs. The strong purpose with the bat and the first ten overs with the ball made me delighted. Need to become better for the next match,” he stated.