South Africa captain Temba Bavuma has revealed that he received an apology from India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant for their offensive comment during the Kolkata Test of the recently concluded series.
In his column for ESPNcricinfo, Bavuma wrote: “I know from my side there was an incident where they said something in their language about me. At the end of the day, two senior players, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah, came and apologised. When the apology was made, I was in the dark about what it was about. I hadn’t heard it at the time and needed to check in with our media manager about it.”
During the match, Bumrah and Pant were heard making a remark about Bavuma’s height. The 35-year-old, who led South Africa to a 2-0 series victory, further wrote that he uses such incidents as fuel to perform better.
“What happens on the field stays on the field, but you don’t forget what is said. You use it as fuel and motivation, but there are no grudges per se.”
Speaking about South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad’s “grovel” comment, Bavuma felt a better word could have been used.
“Shukri also took some heat for his ‘grovel’ remark. I was put under pressure by the media on that side, asking me to clarify the comments that were made. I thought Shukri was the man best positioned to give context to it all. The first time I heard about it, it had that unsavoury taste to it, but I think it just reminded me how tough and competitive the Test series was and what it meant to certain individuals within the group. Shukri spoke after the ODI series and put that issue to bed. In hindsight, he said he could have chosen a better word, and I agree with him,” he wrote.
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