Need to look in mirror and improve, says Duminy

Batting has been South Africa's "Achilles' heel"  in the ongoing series against India, conceded captain JP Duminy, who feels each one of his team's senior players need to "look in the mirror" and improve.

"Unfortunately from a batting perspective, that's been our Achilles' heel throughout this Indian tour in the short format. As players and as senior batters we have to take responsibility for that," Duminy said after South Africa lost the first Twenty20 International by 28 runs, chasing 204 for victory.

"We've got to look ourselves in the mirror, ask how we can improve and get better. Hopefully, that improves come Wednesday.

"You are going to go through periods in your career, where you go through slumps, be it a senior player or a new player. Unfortunately, throughout the series, quite a few senior players have come up short, including me. It's been a dismal ODI series and today as well," he added.

Duminy, however, defended his bowlers for targeting Indian batsmen with short balls, a strategy that didn't quite work. The Men in Blue took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

"It's going to come down to the execution of our skills. If we execute a plan well, it is potentially going to work. But unfortunately, with our plans in place, we didn't execute as well as we'd have liked.

"I still believe and feel the plans are good, but especially when it's a shorter format you have to execute well. Unfortunately, there were few missed opportunities throughout the innings. But we'll definitely come back stronger," he said.

Duminy rejected suggestions that the morale is down in the Proteas dressing room right now, having already lost the ODI series 1-5.

"I honestly don't believe that we are dropping our heads, or our body language is bad. Naturally, when you put down opportunities, there will be some moping around, and you have to try and get yourself up as quickly as possible especially in a big game like that," he said.

Indian batsmen countered the short-ball plan and powered their way through the first six overs. They finished with 203/5, their highest T20 total against South Africa. Duminy felt that given the good batting conditions, the target was within their reach.

"They were 100 after eight overs, so at that point, you're looking at probably 220 or 240, and I thought the way the guys came back was exceptional. I was pretty happy with chasing 204," he said.

Duminy believes that South Africa need  to come up with a proper plan B for the second T20I at Centurion on Wednesday.

"Where we've come short was assessing conditions as quickly as possible, which was the plan, again. If you look at how Rohit got out, that was a plan we put together and it came off.

"They (South African bowlers) are inexperienced in terms of international cricket, but they are very experienced in terms of domestic cricket and what they have done at domestic level. They have a high standard in terms of execution but I am not blaming that," he explained.

At the same time, he was appreciative of Bhuvneshwar Kumar's skill which saw the pacer pick up his first five-wicket haul in T20Is.

"Bhuvi's lengths are something we can look into. But if you look at his first three wickets it was slower balls. He's a skillful bowler and he's been in this format for a long time," he said.