“I was expecting a role”: Temba Bavuma expresses disappointment on remaining unsold in SA20 Auction 2023

South African white-ball captain Temba Bavuma remained unsold in the inaugural edition of SA20 Auction 2023.

The auction of the inaugural edition of the SA20 League took place, and all six teams have finalized their squad for the first edition of the tournament. Some players got big bucks in the auction, and the 22-year-old batter Tristan Stubbs was the highest earner, where Sunrisers Eastern Cape bought him for 9.2 million Rands.

However, apart from big bucks signings, there were quite a few big names that went unsold in the auction. One such name was South Africa’s white-ball skipper Temba Bavuma. Ahead of travelling to India for a white-ball series, Bavuma expressed his emotions about remaining unsold in the auction.

Temba Bavuma expresses disappointment on SA20 Auction

Temba Bavuma has expressed his disappointment over being unsold in the SA20 Auction. He said that he was definitely expecting a role in the tournament, and he along with his family are very upset about the same.

“I’ll be lying if I said that I didn’t have any feelings of disappointment. I certainly was expecting to get a role in the tournament. And it was not just myself, it’s family as well,” Temba Bavuma said ahead of flying to India.

Auctions and the bidding dynamics within them can be cruel. Eoin Morgan has no bidder but neither does South Africa’s T20 captain, Temba Bavuma!

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 19, 2022

Bavuma added that he felt letdown after the auction, and he does not think that he is entitled to the happening. He insists that he wants to talk a lot about it, but he does want to dwell deep into it as the Indian series and T20 World Cup are coming ahead of the South African side.

“I almost feel let down in a way. I don’t think it comes down to any entitlement on my side,” Bavuma added.

“I also have to caution myself from delving too deep into it. I want to perhaps speak about the issue too, it’s not the right time. Our focus is India and the T20 World Cup.”

Bavuma has some decent performances in T20 cricket, but he has struggled with his strike-rate. He has scored 2289 T20 runs at 30.52, with the help of 8 half-centuries and 1 century. Bavuma has a strike-rate of 124.67 in T20 cricket.