T20 World Cup: Temba Bavuma reveals how SA team reacted after hearing De Kock's decision

South Africa produced an all-round performance as they managed to defeat the West Indies by eight wickets at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday. However, there was some controversy prior to the start of the match as Quinton de Kock was not included in the playing XI because of his decision to not take a knee. Cricket South Africa (CSA) has directed all the players to 'take a knee' as a stance against racism as players across many sports have been doing. Speaking after the match, South African captain Temba Bavuma spoke at a press conference and addressed the situation.

Bavuma said, "I guess a bit of both (got in the way and inspired) when the news (of de Kock) hit us, it did kind of take us back a bit as a team. Losing a guy like Quinny.. he plays a vital role in the team, not only with the bat but as a senior player, but with Klaasen coming in it was an opportunity for him. At the end of the day, it was another game of cricket to play for our country and we had to make sure we lived up to that. The guys have been playing with their hearts and would have left everything out there and as the tournament goes on that's what we are looking for."

South Africa vs West Indies Match Recap

South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl first and it turned out to be a good decision. While Lendl Simmons and Evin Simmons got off to a good start as they took them to 73/1 in 10.3 overs, there was a sudden collapse and the entire West Indies middle order were unable to post too many runs. They lost eight wickets between the 11th and the 20th over and scored only 64 runs as they posted a target of 143. Anrich Nortje did well to limit the West Indies batsmen as he only conceded 14 runs in his four overs and even managed to take the dangerous Andre Russell's wicket. Dwaine Pretorius took three wickets in the two overs that he bowled and Keshav Maharaj took two and conceded only 24 in his four overs.

While South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma lost his wicket early on after being run out by Russell for just two runs in three balls, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, and a superb half-century from Aiden Markram guided the Proteas to an eight-wicket victory. Hendricks managed to score 39 runs off 30 balls and Dussen scored 43 runs off 51 balls as he played a supporting role to Markram who scored 51 off just 26 balls as he hit two fours and four sixes to attain a strike rate of 196.15.

South Africa will now take on a team in good form, Sri Lanka, on October 30 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium followed by Bangladesh on November 2 as they will want to win the two matches after losing their first against Australia. West Indies on the other hand will take on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on October 29 and November 4 respectively. They will need to win the two matches if they are to have any hope of going through to the knockout stages of the T20 World Cup.

Image: t20worldcup.com/ICC