Proteas star Sekhukhune’s self-belief helps her ace Indian Test

Tumi Sekhukhune’s growing self-belief has seen her become an intrinsic part of the Proteas bowling unit, and eased some of the worries about the continued absence of Marizanne Kapp.

Sekhukhune’s five wickets are the most so far in the series with India, in which she has been instrumental in South Africa claiming a 2-0 lead with three matches to play.

“Personally, getting to play games consistently builds confidence because you learn those parts of your game you need to fix,” the 27-year-old said before Wednesday’s third match at the Wanderers.

Three of those five wickets have been Shafali Verma, Jemima Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma, all mainstays of the powerful Indian batting line-up. Other than the big hitting Verma, whose 91 runs have come at a strike rate of 156.89, India’s batting has lacked consistency and been quite limp in the second half of both innings in the matches at Kingsmead.

After a tour to New Zealand, where the bowlers struggled, leading to increasing chatter about pulling Shabnim Ismail out of retirement, South Africa’s attack fired superbly in Durban, limiting India to 157/7 in the first match and then blowing them out for 147 in the second.

“As a team we have focused on what has worked well for us before; New Zealand was tough, but we knew that we are a much better team than that,” said Sekhukhune.

She has been elevated to bowling in the power play, a new phase for her, which she found surprising. But rather than shy away against Verma, Smriti Mandhana and Rodrigues, Sekhukhune has thrived, using her outswinger (to the right handers) to good effect and relying on good changes of pace.

“I was quite nervous in the beginning when I stepped into this role, but the coaches and my teammates have believed in me. I’ve worked super hard to get back. My confidence is up there and I will just roll with it,” she said.

She played two ODIs and just one of the T20s in New Zealand and though she’s been a regular member of different national squads throughout her career, has never been a consistent starter.

“The nerves come from not having game time, but with my confidence building up now, I don’t think too much when I’m at the top of my mark.”

As a result Kapp, who is still completing a “return to play” programme, hasn’t been missed that much, while the Proteas have also improved their depth and created new options across different phases in the innings.

In addition, rather than being reliant on two bowlers — as was the case when Kapp and Ismail led the attack, or only Nonkululeko Mlaba in 2024 — the current group operate as more of a unit, working off one another to build pressure on the opposition.

It certainly worked well in the first two matches of the series, with South Africa creating a number of chances, though the fielding has been sloppy and five catches have been dropped.

“Fielding is about attitude. In New Zealand when we got hit, automatically you would see heads drop, but now, even if catches are dropped or you’ve missed the ball on the ground, we want to keep up a good attitude, give each other a high five or a pat on the back,” said Sekhukhune.

TimesLIVE