Let’s take a look into South Africa’s T20 team camp in the UAE and their improvement in the past 12-months with Temba Bavuma, Keshav Maharaj, and Rassie van der Dussen.

Rassie van der Dussen questions his wife, Lara, what she is watching on TV, and she replies nothing much.

This sounds quite messy considering that the pair has very little to enjoy their leisure time inside South Africa’s T20 bubble.

Rassie and his team are restricted in this bio-secure environment of an Abu Dhabi hotel not only for a Netflix marathon but also to stay clear-headed in between their practice, which is vital for their performance.

According to Rassie, they’re being looked after very well at the hotel. His wife, Lara is a teacher, who is allowed to take virtual classes inside the bubble. 

The gym area on the ground floor of the hotel measures twice as much as a team room and medical area.

While another squad member, spinner Keshav Maharaj, describes the setup as ‘not ideal’, saying he’s working to make the best of this unfamiliar situation.

He says that it is what it is; there’re plenty of differences, but he’s working hard to slightly make himself at home. He’s a very clean and organized person; hence an unorganized room and ragged sheet can enrage him. He even says that he enjoys no cleaners coming into the rooms so that he can make himself comfortable while keeping the room checked.

But staying entirely isolated is not healthy.

Well, the team has got a separate place in the hotel where they can have food, drink coffee, and watch sports. On October 2, Saturday, they met there to watch South Africa beating New Zealand by 31-29 in the Rugby Championship. According to Maharaj, watching other South African teams connects them to home.

One look at the team is enough to understand their capability of replicating Springbrook’s success. Both Rassie and Keshav are experienced, while Reeza Hendricks and Dwaine Pretorius have developed excellent moves in the last 12-months. Besides, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, and others will join the IPL.

Mark Boucher is supervising the squad as the head coach, while previous Proteas Charl Langeveldt and JP Duminy remain coaching staff.

Though they’re relatively new to their roles, the team performances in 2021 show South Africa’s upwards path. The victories in both T20 and Test matches in the Caribbean, followed by the T20 whitewashes of Ireland and Sri Lanka in last July and September, suggest that the team will benefit in upcoming major tournaments with this extra 12-months practice.

Rassie also says last year was good, as they have adapted well from the different conditions they have been in. He also says the team is in good form and more experienced than last year.

We also find a change in captaincy. Temba Bavuma took permanent reign as South Africa’s T20 skipper in March. Since then, a string of positive outcomes has been seen.

It surprised Bavuma. He has gone through anxiety and fear thinking of how he’d take the team to new heights, but also enjoyed the journey. He thinks himself lucky to play with people from the school level. It keeps the understanding and respect there; he always feels them behind him.

Bavuma joined the South Africa team when AB de Villiers, Morne Morkel, and Hashim Amla were onboard. Sharing experiences with those legends was a big part of his contribution to the team.

He gets a lot of inspiration from Amla. Though both are similar types of players, Amla wasn’t considered a classic South African T20 player as he remodeled the game. Playing with the legends and watching them practice gave Bavuma many skills to pass to the team.

As per him, he could prepare like Amla. But someone like David Miller may come at the back end of the innings with preparation like De Villiers.

Bavuma also prefers mental preparation, just like the physical. He’s not willing to get burnout a few busy weeks prior to the match. He says that putting all hours in practice can make it intense on the matchday.

This is why he switches off his mind after the practice so that he can be on the field with a 100% ready-to-go mindset.

This means it is probably time to watch Netflix again.