As the cameras panned to the Lord’s balcony, the entire South African team was celebrating, barring one man, Temba Bavuma. The Black captain of the South African Test team — a team once regarded as a prized possession of the whites, in a nation divided by colour had his face in his palms. He was trying to soak in the moment. He may not have visualised this in his wildest dreams when he was growing up as a cricketer on the outskirts of Cape Town. The skipper could easily have walked out of the field on Friday evening with a hamstring pull, but he didn’t. Years down the line, when this victory will be discussed, Aiden Markram’s name will keep cropping up for what he did with the bat in a difficult chase. But all those who endured the roller-coaster of the WTC final for four days will remember Bavuma’s 134-ball vigil on virtually one leg.
Remember, Bavuma probably wasn’t everyone’s No. 1 choice as South Africa captain, just as Siya Kolisi wasn’t when the Springboks the pride of white South Africa in those years of Apartheid won the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Kolisi didn’t stop there, he went on to join a select group of rugby captains to win the World Cup back-to-back in 2023. These triumphs, the first being the 1995 Rugby World Cup immortalized by the 2009 Clint Eastwood film Invictus, in which Morgan Freeman played Nelson Mandela — have meant way more than just a win on the sports field.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player?While Mandela used rugby as a unification tool in a country torn by racism, success on the cricket pitch was always considered a given for a nation blessed with incredible talent. Just before they got banned from international cricket, an all-white South African team consisting of the likes of Mike Procter, Barry Richards and Peter Pollock had whitewashed a powerful Australia 4-0. On their return on Nov 10, 1991 at Eden Gardens Kolkata in an ODI against India, the world was wowed by the magnificent Allan Donald. Come every World Cup, South Africa start as one of the favourites, till something other-wordly struck. While in 1992 it was the rain-rule that turned a chase of 22 runs off 13 balls to a bizarre 22 runs off one ball due to a five-minute spell of rain, in 1996 it was a brilliant Brian Lara innings in the quarters. In 1999, Hansie Cronje’s South Africa were the best team for most parts of the tournament till the magic of Shane Warne and a last-over choke by Lance Klusener and Donald finished a dream. The choker’s tag fell firmly on the South Africans and India were the beneficiaries just about a year ago in Barbados. Needing 30 off 30 in the T20 World Cup final, a South African team that hadn’t put a foot wrong till then in the tournament, messed it up as Suryakumar Yadav’s catch of the century in the last over won Rohit Sharma’s boys the title. Long after that game was over, as India celebrated, the South Africans didn’t leave the ground. One could see them sitting in their balcony, staring at India’s moment of triumph. Probably they were internalizing the hurt promising themselves that there will be a rainbow at the end of the tunnel. At a sun-soaked Lord’s on Saturday, however, they did keep their tryst with destiny
