If South Africa were only 41/3 after the Powerplay, India's total following the first six overs of their run chase in Sunday's Super Eight clash was even poorer, reading 31/3.

It's obviously quite tough to recover from such a situation, especially when chasing 188 and on a tricky, two-paced black-soil pitch. India, too, couldn't be back on track thereafter as South Africa bundled them out for 111 in 18.5 overs.

"Sometimes, you have to think you cannot win the game in the Powerplay, but you can lose it," captain Suryakumar Yadav acknowledged later. "We did not have the partnerships we needed, but yeah, it's a part of the game. We will learn from it. We'll sit down and look to bounce back."

The defending champions' net run rate took a severe beating after the 76-run thrashing in their Super Eight opener. To assure themselves of a semi-final berth, Surya and Co. will now have to win by relatively big margins in their remaining Super Eight matches against Zimbabwe in Chennai on Thursday and the West Indies at the Eden on March 1.

"We did make a lot of mistakes tonight (Sunday)," agreed assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate. "We certainly need two solid performances against Zimbabwe and the Windies. For sure, a big bounce back is needed."

Going forward, with Abhishek Sharma failing at the top again, keeper-batter Sanju Samson's return to the XI in the coming matches could be discussed, the assistant coach indicated.

On the other hand, David Miller, the hero of South Africa's massive victory, emphasised the need to be attacking against India's game-changing spinner Varun Chakravarthy.

"There wasn't too much of spin on that surface. So, we decided that the best option against him (Varun) was to take him down," Miller said.