ONE sentence into a question from a member of the media at TUKS yesterday, Proteas Test captain jumped and asked, “Concerns from who?”
The member of the media was not instigating that Bavuma and the Test team were concerned by the prospect of playing Sri Lanka in Durban and Gqeberha, two cities in which South Africa lost to the very same team five years ago and went on to hand over the very first series victory for an Asian team.
The journalist was merely pointing out that South Africa was returning to the two coastal cities that Sri Lanka would want to go back to when touring South Africa, but Bavuma responded in a manner that left no doubts about the confidence of the side heading into next week's series.
As Test coach Shukri Conrad had emphasised after announcing his squad for the Sri Lanka series, Bavuma has no concerns whatsoever in facing Sri Lanka at Kingsmead and St George’s Park in the all-important two-match series.
However, the 34-year-old did acknowledge that the visitors would most likely be confident going back to the two venues.
“Obviously, Sri Lanka will be confident in those two venues, they were successful in them,” Bavuma told the media at the Centre of Excellence in Pretoria on Friday.
“There's not a concern from my side, at least. We're not at liberty to instruct the pitches or where we get to play against certain opposition.
“If I look at this group, it’s a different group, there's only a couple of us who were a part of that 2019 series. So, I don’t see it having any type of scarring on the group.
“Probably for them, they'll be confident in their chances in those conditions.”
Seven of the Sri Lanka players who were involved in that emphatic series victory five years ago are back again hunting for another upset and have been in South Africa for a fortnight already working under the tutelage of former Proteas batter Neil McKenzie.
In the Proteas camp, only Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj are still active from the side that lost that series.
Despite having whitewashed Sri Lanka a year later in 2020, Bavuma admitted that deep down, there could be a desire to rectify the mistakes of that 2019 series in the three experienced players as they return to Durban and Gqeberha.
“It’s something that you're aware of and I think maybe there could be a case of guys wanting to rectify those wrongs,” he said.
“In saying that, when we did play against them again, things went our way so we just accept it for what it is. I don't think it’s an issue.”
The captain is returning to Test match action for the first time since his trip to the Caribbean in July and is happy to do so in what is the most important series of his captaincy stint.
The 34-year-old admitted to being frustrated when all he could do was watch on the sidelines in Bangladesh as his team carved an almost flawless 2-0 series victory.
"When you're injured and you're starting the rehab process it's always a tough one to start. It's just trying to get over all those mental demons and get yourself to a space where you accept what it is that is happening around you and try to deal with it. It has been a tricky couple of weeks," he said.
"As much as the guys played as well as they did against Bangladesh, it was quite frustrating from my side not being able to take part in that but obviously there was a lot of joy in how the guys performed.
“I don’t know what the next couple of weeks or months look like. I'm just happy that I'm able to speak with you guys at this point in time. I tried to prepare as much as I could from a mental and physical point of view. Hopefully, the Gods could smile at me a little bit longer.”
The Proteas will travel to Durban today where they will continue their preparations for the series following the conclusion of their two-day camp in Pretoria.
The first Test is set to get underway at Kingsmead Stadium on Wednesday.