Du Plessis: We needed 300

The Proteas lost the first ODI to India in Durban on Thursday because they put too few runs on the board, not because of poor bowling, said captain Faf du Plessis.

Only a captain’s knock of 120 from Du Plessis allowed South Africa to post 269 in 50 overs, which Du Plessis admitted was sub-par.

‘Certainly we needed 300; 269 was not enough on that deck,’ said Du Plessis. ‘The last two games that we played here, we needed more runs and we won. We chased 370 against Australia here. I think it’s unfair to say that the bowlers were poor.

‘The way the wicket played, and the way they had to take wickets, made it difficult. If we had 30 or 60 runs more, it would have made it easier for them.’

The Proteas were demolished by India’s spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal (2-45) and Kuldeep Yadav (3-34).

This is an issue their batting lineup must address, with Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, JP Duminy and David Miller all falling victim to spin, which resulted in them losing their top five for 134.

‘Quite a few guys haven’t faced these spinners, so it will take one or two games to get used to it,’ he continued. ‘Some of them play with these guys in the IPL, but not all of them have faced them recently.

‘With mystery spin or wrist spin, it takes one or two games to get used to their action and wrist and hopefully, we will get better at playing them.’

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This hasn’t tempted Du Plessis into using two spinners in the rest of the series.

‘I don’t think that the wickets in Centurion and Johannesburg will spin as much. When you go there, spin bowlers have little effect. We have to play well in any conditions, and these conditions certainly suited their spinners.

‘We never play two spinners in South Africa,’ he added. ‘I know that’s a tactic India may use, especially in slower conditions, but we will never play two spinners in South Africa.’