India T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur feels that the lower order failed to come to the party in the third match against the Proteas women.
The tourists slumped to a five wicket loss in a match that, had they won, would have seen them claim the series.
India were bowled out for 133 after the skipper with her 48 and Smriti Mandhana with her 37 gave them a good start.
South Africa hauled in the target to win by five wickets and keep the five match series alive.
Speaking after the defeat in Johannesburg Kaur said: “I think our lower order collapsed today.
“We got a good start but couldn’t capitalise on the momentum. I think after getting a good start we need to utilise that.”
Despite winning the first two T20Is Kaur now feels they need to go back to the drawing board ahead of the T20I double-header at Supersport Park on Wednesday.
She added: “We need to come up with a good plan in the next game. We didn’t play too much T20 in the last 15 months but we played well in the first two games.”
Kaur feels that India have become victims of their own success with the batting of Mandhana and Mithali Raj depriving the lower order of time out in the middle.
She went on: “Smriti and Mithali played pretty much all the 20 overs in both the games so the rest of our batsmen didn’t have that much of batting.”
India lead the series 2-1 with two matches to play in Centurion and Cape Town both will be South Africa v India double-headers featuring the men’s and women’s teams.
