FILE PHOTO: Cricket - South Africa return home after historic World Test Championship win - Cricket South Africa, Melrose, Johannesburg, South Africa - June 18, 2025 South Africa's Temba Bavuma during a press conference REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo
(Reuters) -South Africa coach Shukri Conrad hailed captain Temba Bavuma as one of the best batters in the world over the past two years after his gutsy match-winning innings at Eden Gardens secured a 30-run win in the first test against hosts India.
Bavuma remains unbeaten in his 11 tests as skipper, winning 10 of them to go with a draw, and in that period has averaged 57.00 with the bat.
His unbeaten 55 on a treacherous wicket in the second innings on Sunday helped his side set a modest victory target of 124 for their hosts, who were bowled out for 93.
No other batter in the match got into the 40s.
"Having our best player (Bavuma) back brings a calmness. In the last 18-24 months he has been one of the best players in the world and he showed that again," Conrad told reporters.
"An innings where he was clear in how he wanted to do it and went against the grain of everyone else. That was the difference between the two sides.
"He was comfortable that if he stuck to his gameplan, which was that he will get beaten by balls on the outside, but as long as he is not beaten by balls on the inside, he will bat through."
Conrad said he believed both teams were surprised by how the wicket behaved on the first day.
"We thought the wicket would (turn) on day one, but we did not bargain for as much turn and bounce, that threw both sides," he said, adding the victory, South Africa’s first in India since 2010, will give the team a huge boost in confidence.
"We won the World Test Championship final earlier in the year but this is right up there for us," he said. "Playing at Eden Gardens and doing something we have not done for 15 years, you can only dream of coming here (and winning).
"The psyche now is that while we might not have the ability that a lot of teams have, or we have not tapped into that ability yet, what we lack in that we have certainly made up for in terms of playing as a unit.
"The resilience that we showed, we never give up and I am so proud in that group in terms of the belief that we have got."
The second and final test will start in Guwahati on Saturday.
(Reporting by Nick Said;Editing by Alison Williams)
