“Physically I feel fine. Obviously not 100 percent,” he said in Kolkata. “Obviously today [today] It becomes important regarding the decision about tomorrow [match day]. “I’m quite confident, but this won’t be a unilateral decision that will be made.”
All we have to go on is what we’ve been told and what we’ve seen from Bavuma this week. After suffering a hamstring strain, he was not given a scan but was given the weekend to rest. The team had a day off on Saturday and traveled from Ahmedabad to Kolkata on Sunday. Questions about why he did not need an examination were not answered.
They have since attended three training sessions, but Monday and Wednesday were optional, and Bavuma was present at all of them. On Monday, he performed fitness exercises and batted for more than an hour and team management said he was showing “objective signs of improvement.” On Tuesday, he did more intense running drills including some sprinting, a fielding session with one-handed catches and throws, and hitting again, with an emphasis on footwork. Today, after addressing the media, Bavuma did some jumping and stretching exercises, lateral running and more juggling before taking some kicks on the pitch. ESPNcricinfo confirmed that he did not undergo a fitness test.
What we don’t know is what Bavuma still needs to do to get a decent pass. Asked directly what boxes he still needed to tick today, Bavuma said: “I think it’s just using the rest day to continue my rehab and I’ll do some field stuff. I can’t tell you medically, but I think it’s in order for me, from a feeling point of view.” “This is what I can attest to.”
