"I don’t think it’s given us any extra motivation" - Temba Bavuma on South Africa's 'chokers' tag ahead of Pakistan clash of 2023 World Cup

South African skipper Temba Bavuma admitted that they are looking to overcome the chokers tag and deal with the pressure of expectations as they go deeper into the 2023 World Cup.

Bavuma missed the previous two games against England and Bangladesh, both of which the Proteas won resoundingly. He will return for the Pakistan clash in Chennai on Friday, October 27.

The Proteas have been thoroughly impressive thus far in the tournament, winning four of their five games to be placed second on the points table.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the Pakistan clash, Temba Bavuma dismissed the notion of the chokers tag being any motivation to the players and was instead looking to focus on getting better at dealing with pressure.

"I don’t think it’s given us any extra motivation," Bavuma said. "We looked at ways as to how we can maybe divert our attention away, not necessarily using the ‘chokers’ tag, but how do we address and deal with the precedent expectation.

"We understand that as the tournament progresses, the more we keep playing well, that’s going to come to the fray."

However, the South African skipper admitted that should they stumble again to cross the final hurdles, the term will be doing the rounds.

"But I think we’ve developed ways as to how we can divert our attention and focus on the important things," Temba Bavuma stated. "It’s still early in the tournament. There’s still going to be pressure situations that we’re going to overcome. If we stumble, we’ll probably have to deal with that tag again.

"Five games ago, we weren’t probably seen as the favourites. But now, there’s a lot more positivity around the Proteas and the South African team."

Despite being among the pre-tournament favorites on each occasion, South Africa has never crossed the semi-final stage of World Cups.

While the Proteas have endured some misfortune along the way, they have also succumbed to the pressure of the knockout games with questionable decision-making.

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"We know somewhere along the line in the tournament we’ll have to bat second" - Temba Bavuma

Quinton de Kock has led the South African batting barrage through the World Cup.

Temba Bavuma conceded that the Proteas will have to eventually chase during the tournament despite being in a comfortable position on the points table.

While the South African dominance has been impressive, the side has benefitted from posting massive totals batting first in all four of their victories. They lost the lone game while chasing against the Netherlands in Dharamsala.

Nevertheless, Bavuma felt there was a possibility of the Proteas opting to chase against Pakistan, considering the Chennai wicket seemed to get better to bat on under the lights.

"I watched the Afghanistan game with Pakistan and it seemed to get a lot better batting under light," Bavuma continued. "There’s obviously us needing to consider the fact that we’ve had a lot of success of late batting first. So fortunately for me, I don’t have to make that decision right now.

"But we know somewhere along the line in the tournament we’ll have to bat second. The conversations that we’ve had as batters is to find ways as to how we can still follow that same process that we follow when we’re batting first," he added.

While South Africa has been rampaging through the World Cup, Pakistan has lost three consecutive matches to languish at sixth on the points table with two wins in five games.

However, the Asian side can derive confidence from the fact that the South Africans have never beaten them in an ODI World Cup since 1999.