Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma raring to go against Pakistan

Bavuma sat out South Africa's last two fixtures – victories over England and Bangladesh in Mumbai, and will once again lead the team as they look to continue their fantastic run of four wins from five matches in India so far.

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Having suffered from gastric illness, the 33-year-old confirmed is ready and focussed on the task at hand on Friday.

"I'm feeling a lot better, thank you. I do feel close to normal, physically. Obviously, as a player, you want to be playing [and] it was frustrating, [but] there wasn't really much I could do [to avoid being ill]," said Bavuma.

"But I think there was comfort in the fact that Aiden [Markram] came in as the leader  and he did a very good job, and Reeza [Hendricks] as well, with the opportunities he was given – he did what you'd expect from a replacement player."

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With a history of failing when it matters most on the World Cup stage, Bavuma insists the current crop of players are unbothered by potentially "choking" as the tournament nears its business end and the battle for a semi-final berth heats up.

"I don't think it's given us any extra motivation, to be honest. I think we've 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 pressure and expectations," he asserted.

"We understand that, as the tournament progresses the more we [need to] keep playing well – that's going to come to the fray, but I think we've developed ways as to how we can divert our attention and focus on the important things.

"It's still early in the tournament, there's still going to be pressure situation that we're going to overcome, [but] if we stumble, we're probably going to have to deal with that tag again.

"But, for us as a team, we're looking at other ways to be able to deal with the pressures and expectations that come with being on the field."

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