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‘Hard one to swallow for the guys. We had the confidence and the belief to get to the knockouts. You can pick out a lot of things when you lose that way.’
Following his side's 13-run loss to the Netherlands in their final Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup, South African skipper Temba Bavuma that his side lost wickets at crucial times and "faltered when it mattered".
The Netherlands staged a massive upset at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday after defeating South Africa by 13 runs in their last Super-12 encounter, ensuring India a place in the semi-finals.
"Very disappointing. We really played well before this game. We knew it was a must-win game and again we faltered when it mattered. Hard one to swallow for the guys. We had the confidence and the belief to get to the knockouts. You can pick out a lot of things when you lose that way. Firstly, myself with the toss, winning the toss and bowling first," said Bavuma in a post-match presentation.
"Was not ideal to let them off to a start and let them score 158. With the bat, we just got stuck similar to the Pakistan game. We lost wickets at crucial times. The wicket maybe got a bit hard, but they used the dimensions of the ground a lot better than we did. From all of us, just was not good enough," he added.
India secured a place in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup after South Africa's defeat, who ended their campaign with five points. Men in Blue are currently table toppers with six points.
The clash between Pakistan and Bangladesh has now become a virtual quarterfinal as the winner of the clash will join India in the semi-finals from group 2. Both of these sides have four points each and the winner will end with six points to earn a top-two finish and will remove SA from the second spot.
India could have eight points or six depending on their result against Zimbabwe later on Sunday.
South Africa, the perennial chokers are always the pre-tournament favourites, but are yet to reach the final of an ICC World Cup.
They have lost at semi-final stage at the T20 World Cup twice -- 2009 and 2014.
In the ODI World Cup, they have lost out in the last-four on four occasions -- 1992, 1999, 2007 and 2015.
The Netherlands skipper Scot Edwards was at a "loss for words" after securing their first ever win against South Africa in any format.
"Lost for words... It's going to take a bit of time... We are sort of used to those conditions," he said.
"It's definitely up there -- another big upset for Netherlands in a World Cup... We were still playing for a spot in the next World Cup."
It was Netherlands second win in the Super 12 stage after having defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets earlier.