Some sloppy bowling and slapdash fielding were much to account for the Proteas’ loss to Pakistan during their Group 2 T20 World Cup encounter in Sydney on Thursday, but it was a loss they may have needed in order to gain perspective.

There were many bombast conversations of South Africa’s form after they beat India and after having been the ‘only remaining unbeaten side in the tournament’ after New Zealand’s loss to England. 

T20 cricket isn’t as simple as just being talented at what you do and you just need to show up to deliver the goods. That is perhaps what the Proteas needed to realise in this haphazarddefeat that was devoid of resilience or composure in a high stakes game.  

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first, after which they posted a massive 184-9. Rain interrupted SA’s chase – lowering their target to 141 in 14 overs – but that wasn’t merely to blame for the 33-run defeat.

The loss wasn’t catastrophic for the Proteas’ World Cup ambitions though – albeit they could’ve sealed a top-2 finish right away – and they just simply need to beat Netherlands on Sunday to book a spot in the semi-finals.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a concern but it probably is a bit of a wake-up call,” said skipper Temba Bavuma of their first loss of the tournament while having their sights set on the semis.

“I thought in the first 10 overs we were superb; we were able to put them under pressure.”

Pakistan’s top order suffered a perilous collapse inside the opening seven overs. In fact, it was their middle-order that’d scaled unexpected heights in the form of Iftikhar Ahmed (51 off 35), Mohammad Nawaz (28 off 22) and Player-of-the-Match Shadab Khan scoring a blistering 52 off 22 balls.

“The wheels probably fell off,” Bavuma said of their inability to continue applying pressure. “Conditions changed a little bit with the ball starting to skid on, but in terms of our awareness and adapting to that we were very slow.

“We allowed them to get momentum into their innings and they managed to get a formidable score on the board.”

Bavuma added that Pakistan may have carried that same ascendency into their bowling defense, which may have ignited the side as a whole mentally.

“With the ball they had momentum. They probably had the advantage on their side and they just ran with that. A team like Pakistan is very dangerous when you give them a sniff.

“There are talking points for us and areas where we can learn from. Maybe it’s a performance we needed to bring us down back to Earth.”

The Proteas have prided themselves in flawless fielding displays during the World Cup so far. But this was a facet of the game where they’d let themselves down against Pakistan – especially in the form of Tabrais Shamzi and Aiden Markram, who’d both misjudged catches and misfielded more than once.  

“I’m not going to look for excuses for our fielding display – up until this game our fielding has been very good,” Bavuma said, adding that they’d also fielded in various challenging conditions.

“I think today, individually, guys weren’t where they are mentally. The mistakes that were made were not the type of mistakes you want to be making at this level, especially in this part of the tournament.

“Maybe the intensity lowered a bit from the guys and they know it’s not the standard of fielding we pride ourselves on.”

Although many critics have been calling for Bavuma’s axing due to his shortcomings with the bat, he’d ironically scored the highest of 36 for the Proteas in Sydney. SA would now hope rain stays away against Netherlands on Sunday so that they can attempt to get a favourable result.

If that game is a forced draw, then Pakistan have to beat Bangladesh by a considerable margin to overtake SA and surge into the top-2.

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