South Africa cricket team captain AB de Villiers has claimed that their 130-run humiliation by India was embarrassing and has called on the senior group of players to make sure that their confidence is still there after it took a bit of a knock with their performance.
India recorded a crushing 130-run defeat against South Africa on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, despite De Villiers' men tipped to be the dominating team on the southern hemisphere wickets of Australia and New Zealand.
Moreover, South Africa was fined for a slow over rate and leading seamer Vernon Philander might be sidelined after sustaining an injury to his left hamstring, Sport24 reported.
Losing the toss was a blow, allowing India's batsmen the best of a slow wicket on a stifling hot day, but De Villiers was at a loss to explain his batsmen's collapse for 177 after being set 308 for victory.
The skipper said that it's a big knock for them to get beaten by 130 runs, insisting that it's almost embarrassing, He said that one never wants to lose by that amount of runs, adding that one always wants to be a competitive team, feel like they are always in the game, feel like they have got a chance to win games.
De Villiers claimed that they pride themselves on that, and added that it didn't happen on Sunday. He admitted that they are going to have to lick their wounds for a while.
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De Villiers said that ones confidence takes a bit of a knock with performances like that, and it's up to the senior group of players to make sure that confidence is still there come Friday against the West Indies.
The skipper revealed that little things like their performance against India could creep into ones game if one starts thinking about it too much, and if one allows it to knock their confidence down.