South Africa captain JP Duminy said the senior batsmen in the Proteas team, himself included, must take responsibility for the defeat in the T20I against India at the Wanderers on Sunday.
The home team went down by 28 runs in the first of three T20Is after being set a target of 204 with Duminy (3) and David Miller (9) – batting at number three and four respectively – again failing with the bat.
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With injuries robbing the Proteas of the services of skipper Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla being rested, the hosts were short on experience in the line-up.
Opening batsman Reeza Hendriks scored his maiden T20I half-century and shared in a stand of 81 with Farhaan Behardien (39) but they were the only two to make any meaningful contributions with the willow.
Duminy said after the game: “I thought it was a decent total to chase down, especially at this venue.
“I was pretty happy with chasing 204. Unfortunately from batting perspective – that’s been our achilles heel throughout this Indian tour in the short format.
“As players and as senior batters we have to take responsibility for that, we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror, ask how we can improve and get better.”
The Proteas must now win the second T20I in Centurion on Wednesday of they want to have any chance of winning the series.
