Temba Bavuma sings India's bowling attack praises ahead of Boxing Day

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma provided insights into India's bowling attack ahead of the first Test of the two-match series commencing from Tuesday, December 26.

Four potential top-six batters for India—Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer boast red-ball averages over 40. Notably, none of the current South African batters in the squad have such high averages, indicating India's apparent advantage in batting. However, it's worth mentioning that only Kohli holds impressive figures in South Africa, boasting an average of 51.35, while Rohit averages only 15.37 in the country.

"We understand conditions a lot better so you'd expect us to adapt a lot better but their bowling is quite strong. The fact that they've been able to achieve such success is because of their bowling attack and that kind of nullifies the advantage we have. It's more between the batters and how the batters take on that challenge," Bavuma was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Bavuma further emphasised the importance of keeping South Africa's unbeaten home record against India, highlighting the distinctive pressure associated with facing the Rohit Sharma-led team. The 33-year-old acknowledged the scrutiny that accompanies matches against India. He also pointed out that India bring a notable skill factor to the field, featuring senior Test players with a track record of success in various conditions.

"There's a lot of pride attached to that - that we've been able to keep that record intact as a South African team... all of us as players also feel that. But we understand playing against India comes with certain challenges and it's those types of challenges we would like to focus on. Playing against India comes with a lot more eyes and a lot more scrutiny in terms of everything we do. So it's accepting that. 

"And the other, more obvious one, is the skill factor on the field. For me as a batter, the bowlers are going to put you under pressure and their batting line-up as well, they've got renowned Test players and guys who performed in all conditions. They are a determined team as well, who want to be able to say they've won a Test series here in South Africa so with that extra bit of drive and motivation, we'll really need to be at our best," the Proteas captain added.