Elgar holds off on Proteas chats with hurting Bavuma: 'I respect what he's been through'

Dean Elgar has not engaged in any serious cricketing chat with Temba Bavuma since the latter returned chastened from the Proteas' failed T20 World Cup campaign, leaving such conversations for when the team arrives in Australia this weekend.

The diminutive Bavuma had been granted a leave of absence from the game - not playing in any of the domestic four-day matches preceding the three-Test tour - in order to allow him an opportunity to be mentally refreshed after he was made one of the scapegoats for South Africa's early exit.

"For now, it's personal between him and I," Elgar, the Proteas' Test skipper, said on Thursday after being asked about his deputy's state of mind.

"I respect what he has been through. I can't speak for what he has been through because I wouldn't know how to deal with it personally. So for now, I am respecting the space he is in."

If that comes across as rather gloomy, the feisty Elgar did attempt to soothe over concerns by pointing out that Bavuma has spent his break productively.

"The time off has done him well. The conversations will still start with him going forward. He wanted to have a break from the game for a little while and you've got to respect that as well."

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Bavuma won't, however, be un-shackled from intense scrutiny once he's back in the public view though, unlike in the T20 format, the spotlight is on him because he's a key member of the Test batting line-up and has been the team's most consistent performer this year, averaging 46.

"He has got a lot of pressure on his plate. We still have work to do and he has to be in the right space for the team. That’s going to the message I put forward to him and I am