KOLKATA: Where do South Africa stand after the big loss to India on Sunday evening? "Disappointing," was how head coach Rob Walters termed it, but he thinks they can bounce back.
With South Africa already having advanced to the semifinals, the defeat was a wake-up call that spinner Keshav Maharaj feels happened at the right time. "It is probably a good thing and a blessing in disguise for this team to make sure that we iron out our trouble areas. It's just a good eye-opener for us," he said.
Maharaj used the conditions at the Eden Gardens well to contain India in the middle overs. However, with little support from others, apart from Kagiso Rabada, there was little he could do as India raced past 300 on a wicket on which 270 was being considered a good score.
"It was definitely not a 320-run wicket," Walters said after South Africa were bundled out for 83 chasing 326, leaving the hosts with a massive 243-run victory. "India got off to a flier and although Keshav and Kagiso did pretty well to check them, their batters did very well out there," Walters added.
Maharaj was quite candid in his assessment that they failed in both batting and bowling fronts. "We bowled too many bad balls and gave them too many scoring opportunities, and that took the game away. While batting, we just couldn't show the intent out there from the start. There were a few soft dismissals," the bowler, who bagged Shubman Gill's wicket and conceded 30 runs off his 10 overs, said.
Maharaj added that Sunday's loss was an indication that SA need to improve, and the team will use the remaining league game against Afghanistan in Ahmedabad on Friday to work on the shortcomings. Playing spin was an issue for the SA batters on Sunday, with Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav picking up seven wickets among themselves.
With Afghanistan having good spinners in their ranks, South Africa's batters will be looking to get some quality practice.
