Cape Town — Proteas captain Temba Bavuma has blamed his bowlers’ lack of execution for the team’s 16-run loss to India in the second T20 international in Guwahati on Sunday.
South Africa were set a record 238 to level the series, but fell 16 runs short to lose their first-ever T20 series on Indian soil.
David Miller struck a superb unbeaten 106 (47 balls, 8x4, 7x6) and Quinton de Kock battled away to 69 not out (48 balls, 3x4, 4x6), but it was not enough to haul in the total.
This was due to the bowling unit, particularly the seamers, not hitting the correct lines or lengths during India’s innings, which was dominated by Suryakumar Yadav (61 not out off 22 balls), KL Rahul (57 off 28 balls), Virat Kohli (49 not out off 28 balls) and Rohit Sharma (43 off 37 balls).
“It wasn't our best performance, the conditions were different. We couldn't execute our plans,” Bavuma said. “The conditions were tough, we tried to get the ball swinging early, but when it was reduced, we saw how easy it was.”
Bavuma believes a total in the region of 220 was chaseable, but once India posted a total closer to 240 it was always going to be an uphill task.
“David Miller showed why he is one of the best T20 batters going around. He is looking good, feeling good and we can draw a lot of confidence from his performance,” Bavuma said. “I thought we could have given it a good go with 220, but 240 was too high.”
Personally, though, Bavuma has yet to score a run in two innings with his return from injury yielding two ducks in the series.
His seven-ball nought on Sunday was particularly critical in the final outcome, after he played out a maiden in the first over from Deepak Chahar.
It left SA effectively with just 19 overs to chase down India’s total, which ultimately proved significant with the visitors falling just 16 runs short of the target.
IOL Sport