South Africa suffered a stunning eight-wicket defeat against India A in their T20 warm-up in New Delhi on Tuesday. Chasing a challenging 190 for victory, India A openers Manan Vohra (56 off 42 balls) and Mayank Agarwal (87 off 49 balls) stitched a 119-run stand to set the platform for a win, with two balls to spare.
South Africa all-rounder JP Duminy was pleased with his side's batting efforts but said they could have done better with the ball.
"I think we would have loved the result to go our way but I was quite pleased with our first outing in India. Scoring 190, that was a good start with the bat for us, but yes we could have executed a little bit better with the ball but I don't think it is something that we need to worry too much about," Duminy said.
However, Duminy is confident that his side's bowling will bounce back when the series starts with first T20I in Dharamsala on October 2.
"The guys know where they went wrong during the match but there is still another three days to go before Friday. So, it's important for us to make sure that we put in some good work leading into that first game, that first game is the most important thing for us," he said.
Duminy added that a big positive for them was the valuable time that the batsmen got in the middle, with AB de Villiers (37 off 27 balls), Faf du Plessis (42 off 27 balls) and Duminy (68 not out off 32 balls) making impressive contributions. Du Plessis and Duminy hardly put a foot wrong in their comebacks after missing the series against New Zealand last month.
"I haven't played for a while so it was key for me to spend some time out in the middle.
"It's only a warm-up game, yes I enjoyed it, but we have got to make sure that we put in the big performances on the big stage which is Friday," he said.
The all-rounder said the young attack will learn a lot from the warm-up match, particularly under the difficult batting-friendly conditions and heat. Marchant de Lange was the standout performer in his three-over spell, running in with good pace and delivering accurate placement in the death overs.
"I have no doubt that they have what it takes to win the series as a bowling department," he added.
"Today is a nice opportunity for us to assess what is going to work and what is not going to work for us in these conditions. Marchant and Kyle Abbott have played in these conditions during the IPL, while Kagiso (Rabada) is new to these conditions, so it's important for him to understand what works and what doesn't, to assess early on especially against a formidable line-up in the Indian team."
The Proteas travel to Dharamsala on Wednesday and will have one final training session at the picturesque Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium before the first T20I on Friday evening.
(With inputs from Cricket South Africa)