A.B. de Villiers expressed extreme disappointment at South Africa’s massive loss to India, terming it “almost embarrassing”. “It is a big knock for us to get beaten by 130 runs. It is almost embarrassing. You never want to lose by that many runs.
“We are going to have to lick our wounds for a while. It is not just about going through to the quarterfinals. Your confidence takes a bit of a knock with performances like that,” he said.
The pitch was two-paced in the second innings, de Villiers stated, but admitted that it was not the reason for his side’s defeat. “The two run-outs cost us dearly. Had we got a few partnerships going, we would have come close. So, that was very disappointing,” he said.
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The South Africa skipper denied that the large crowd support for India was a factor in the loss. “You have got to win games wherever you play to be the best team in the world,” he said. “It obviously plays a role for them. I think they got a bit of a boost playing with a lot of support. I felt like we had support as well.”
de Villiers felt 307 was not a total out of reach. “It was difficult to make breakthroughs, and at the end of the day, I thought it was probably a 275-280 kind of wicket. We actually did well to keep it down to 307, and I thought we had a chance halfway through the game, but unfortunately just lost our way completely with the bat in hand. Two run-outs are absolutely unacceptable in the top six; we just cannot afford those kind of things.”