Baartman makes his case to move ahead in SA's bowling queue

Discussing South Africa's T20 World Cup bowling options in the time of Kagiso Rabada's absence seems futile because much will depend on him and his availability. But it's a conversation that must be had if only to prepare for a worst-case scenario. South Africa have been without Rabada for the entire India tour as he recovers from a rib injury but have coped better than expected. Marco Jansen has dazzled in both aggression and wicket-taking terms while Lungi Ngidi has led the T20I attack with skill, but these are players we would expect to see step up.

What about the bench strength? Nandre Burger made a promising start to the ODI series before he hurt his hamstring, and now Ottneil Baartman has come in from the cold with a solid performance in the series-levelling second T20I in New Chandigarh. Baartman took 4 for 24 and served a reminder of what he can offer after last taking a four-for at the 2024 T20 World Cup against Netherlands.

There, Baartman was South Africa's new kid on the block, picked for the national side after leading the bowling charts for most of the SA20 before he was overtaken by his team-mate Jansen in the final, and with just one international to his name when the World Cup began. His control, ability to move the ball off the seam and to execute both a pinpoint yorker and a good bouncer made him a perfect pick for the drop-in pitch in Nassau County, where he had most of his success. But he was benched by the time South Africa got to the business end. Since then, his appearances have been limited both because of South Africa's problem of plenty and a knee injury.

Post the 2024 T20 World Cup, Baartman has only played in nine of South Africa's 29 T20Is and has not had the opportunity to make much of a case for himself under Shukri Conrad. Until New Chandigarh.

Picked in the XI to try and level the series against an India side that left South Africa in pieces after game one, Baartman was given the ball in the eighth over when significant damage had already been done. India were 65 for 3 chasing 214, but had Axar Patel and Tilak Verma at the crease, with Hardik Pandya, Jitesh Sharma and Shivam Dube to come. It took Baartman three balls to make an impact. He delivered it full and angling away from the left-handed Axar, who tried to smash it over the covers but mishit to the fielder, Reeza Hendricks. While the dismissal will be remembered for Hendricks taking a good low catch, it was also Baartman's line, length and seam movement that created the breakthrough.

His first spell lasted just one over and he was then brought back for the 12th, with India 89 for 4 and barely hanging on. With a required run-rate of 13.88, Baartman conceded only five runs in his second over, varying his lengths from short to the yorker and maintaining a stump-to-stump line.

Then, he was brought back for the death, which is the role he thrived in in his breakout SA20 and should have had a wicket with the second ball of his over. Jitesh tried to hit a 136kph length delivery over midwicket and was early through the stroke. The ball clipped the bail and caused it to spin but did not dislodge it. To make matters worse for Baartman, Jitesh hit the next ball for six.

In the 19th over, with Jitesh dismissed, Baartman was at his best when he cleaned up the tail. He bowled Dube with a seam-up delivery that was over 140kph and skidded past him to send the stumps flying, had Arshdeep Singh caught off a short ball at backward point, and then had Varun Chakravarthy caught at long-on trying to go big. That over consisted of four runs and three wickets, and though South Africa had all but won the game before it, it ensured the result was emphatic. Baartman had demonstrated the full range of what he could do.

Being a man of few words, Baartman explained in a post-match TV interview that his role was informed by what had happened earlier on, when "the swing bowlers [Ngidi primarily, and Jansen and Lutho Sipamla to a lesser extent] did their thing and then we just tried to use the wobble and cross seam and went shorter rather than fuller."

Just under half of Baartman's deliveries (11 out of 24) were back of a length or shorter and it was the decisions he made when choosing which ball to deliver. Whether it earns him a spot in the next match is yet to be seen as South Africa continue to rotate their squad in this series, as hinted at by captain Aiden Markram. "It's never easy. As a player, you just want to get given three of four games to build some momentum but it's also just about how busy our schedule is with the World Cup, SA20 and this series," Markram said. "Hopefully by the time the SA20 is done, everyone has some good game time."

That's instructional because it was also the SA20 that helped then-coach Rob Walter decide on his squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup. Though South Africa have more international fixtures this time around than last - they played no T20Is between December and May before the June tournament but will play eight across this series and the home matches against West Indies - the domestic franchise competition holds huge sway.

No one will be more pleased to hear that than Baartman, who will play for Paarl Royals in season four after spending three summers with Sunrisers Eastern Cape. He has been among the top-ten wicket-takers in all three editions of the SA20 and another strong performance could see him play a second successive T20 World Cup.