South Africa skipper Jean-Paul Duminy on Sunday blamed the lack of partnerships for a 28-run loss to India in the first first Twenty-20 International (T20I) at the New Wanderers Stadium here.
Apart from Reeza Hendricks (70 runs in 50 balls), all other batsmen failed to click.
“With the bat, in the beginning we never got partnerships. 204 was definitely chaseable but we did not play well,” Duminy said after the match.
Duminy said the team cannot depend on the youngsters to win matches.
“Of course you cannot fault the new guys like Dala, Hendricks in this format. We seniors need to take more responsibility.
“Very disappointed. In the first six overs with the ball, we were always looking for wickets. We had a plan to bowl short at India. If you don’t get the lines right, you are going to go for plenty. We just need to keep working hard and improving,” he added.
Chasing a challenging target of 204, South African openers J.J.Smuts and Reeza Hendricks got off to a good start but after the first wicket in the third over it all went wrong for the hosts.