Mark Boucher (left) and Andre Nel in Durban on Wednesday. (AFP)

Durban: Indian captain Rahul Dravid said the side had the wherewithal to tackle genuine fast bowling and promised to bounce back from the crushing 157-run loss against South Africa in the second one-dayere here on Wednesday.

“We have to play much better to be competitive, and we can play much better than this,” Dravid said after India were bundled out for 91 in reply to South Africa’s 248 for eight at the Kingsmead ground.

Dravid said India did not play to their potential. “Some of our shot selection against the fast bowlers is something we need to look at before we go into the next game,” Dravid said.

He did not believe the target was beyond his team but said the rival bowlers did not allow his batsmen to execute their strategy. “We had to keep wickets but they bowled in the right areas and kept the pressure on us. We weren’t just good enough yesterday. Credit to their bowlers,” he said.

“It’s been agreed that if we want to be competitive in conditions like this then we’ve got to prepare wickets like this in our domestic tournaments,” he added, referring to the seamer-friendly pitch.

On the other hand, Winning captain Graeme Smith credited the team’s victory to Jacques Kallis who carved an unbeaten 119 and then captured three for three. “We did think it (the total) was enough but all credit to Jacques (Kallis) who got us there after being 63 for three,” he said.

On Andre Nel’s explosive spell of four for 13, Smith said the right-arm pacer deserved all the praise. “He had an opportunity today. Normally Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini walk away with the glory but today it was his turn,” he said.

Man-of-the-Match Kallis said he wished he could have done even better with the bat. “I think I could have scored 15 or 20 runs more. Probably it was not my best knock,” he said.

“It wasn’t a free-scoring wicket, it needed someone to bat through the innings and for someone to bat around him. That’s what we did. I backed my experience to hang in there, and we made a good score,” he added.