With yet another early exit from the Champions Trophy 2017, South African captain AB De Villiers has insisted that despite the team's poor performance in the tournament, he can lead the team to a World Cup victory in 2019.
"Because I'm a good captain, I can take this team forward. I can take us to win a World Cup, I believe. And I believed the same thing over here in this tournament and the last one, but that's what I believe. I love doing it," he said in the post-match press conference, reports cricket.com.au.
Reflecting on the team's performance in the game against India, the Proteas skipper revealed that although there were major errors in judgments, the team was composed throughout the duration of the game.
"In my mind, that (composure) wasn't the problem. It wasn't a mental thing. We just didn't play well. We were really in a good position there with the batting end early on, and through soft dismissals we lost our way and that was the part for me that hurt the most," he said.
The Proteas' batting order saw a significant fall, which ultimately resulted in India comfortably clinching victory, with 72 balls to spare.
Although South Africa got off to a comfortable start with a projected score of 300, the batting order collapsed with a mere 51 runs being scored with eight wickets down, which ultimately led to India being faced with a target of 191 runs.
While India's incredible fielding efforts aided the Captain's dismissal, the mid-filed mix up with David Miller and Faf du Plessis diving for the line at the same end of the pitch reflected South Africa's poor performance in the game.
With the Proteas' exit from the league, India will now be facing Bangladesh in the semi-final at Birmingham on Thursday.