Against South Africa in T20 World Cup, India blinked when must-win clash demanded boldness and precision

Consider these two scenarios. In the first, a team loses both their openers – two of the best batters in the format – cheaply within the first four overs. But the rest of the batting unit keeps the foot on the pedal right throughout, not by playing risky cricket, but by playing aggressively nonetheless. Wickets keep falling, but with four of their middle-order batters striking at 130+, they end up posting an above-par score: 172/8. It proves enough to win the match.

In the second, a team loses both their openers – two of the best in the format – within the powerplay after a fairly decent start. But the rest of the batting unit doesn't quite click into gear, with only one of the key middle-order batters striking at 130+. They end up posting 158/7, which proves insufficient.

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When both these scenarios came to pass, the opponents were South Africa, perhaps the best bowling side in the tournament. In their first Group A match, Australia played smart and positive cricket right through to come through as winners. Whereas on Sunday at Old Trafford, India came up short, first with the bat and then on the field, to throw away promising positions and end up on the losing side. Marizanne Kapp's sensational 45-ball 81* was the match-winning knock in the end, but India played their own part in scripting a defeat that potentially ends their tournament in the group stage.

South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt spoke after the win about how India's openers 'pretty much smashed the first couple of overs'. Smriti Mandhana's timing in those early stages was breathtaking as she flicked and pulled and cut with perfection. But then decided to go for a scoop behind the wicket – which has never been her strength – against Kapp of all people, only to be bowled.

Shafali Verma, too, appeared to be in dangerous touch, but she was done in by the short ball again; albeit the fastest ball of the tournament so far from the fastest bowler the game has seen, Shabnim Ismail.

Most teams would take 59/2 at the end of the powerplay, though. It is what followed that summed up India's batting problems. Yastika Bhatia's trouble with consuming dot balls in clusters has been evident for a while, and she fell LBW to a fairly innocuous straight-line delivery. Jemimah Rodrigues, pushed to No 4 after having played at No 3 pretty much throughout the lead-up to this tournament, tamely edged one back to the bowler. Harmanpreet Kaur once again took her time to settle in, largely playing ones and twos in her 22-ball stay and then not accelerating at the backend.

Richa Ghosh was tied down by South Africa's smart bowling tactics at the backend. Strangely enough, only Deepti Sharma -– who has often been criticised for a lack of intent in the middle overs – showed hints of the 'fearless approach' that Harmanpreet keeps referring to.

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All the attention in the immediate aftermath, unsurprisingly, was on India's catching. They dropped Kapp thrice; two of those missed opportunities were by Radha Yadav, India's most athletic fielder.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur mentioned it a few times in her post-match chat. "We got a couple of chances in between, but couldn't take those chances. We have two matches, and this is the time to stay positive. Sree Charani and Shafali (Verma) bowled well, but unfortunately, the other bowlers didn't support them. We have to take opportunities at this level. We were not lucky enough with that," she said.

She'd repeat it when asked about Kapp's innings. To be fair to her, there were no direct questions asked about India's batting; perhaps that is why she didn't need to critique her side's – and her own – efforts.

Head coach Amol Muzumdar did give his assessment in the post-match press conference, though. "We were 10 to 15 runs short. The way we started, I guess 170 would have been an ideal score," he'd say later.

It's easy to fixate on the more obvious flaws in the second half, when, with the bat, it has been obvious for a while now that India can win matches against the truly elite sides only if they post totals that are above par, given the lack of experience in the bowling unit. Which is why going at a scoring rate of nearly 10 runs per over in the powerplay to 158/7 after 20 overs (with a scoring rate of 7.07 for the last 14 overs) cannot be just brushed aside without consideration.

India's bowlers, if anything, stepped up, firstly to restrict South Africa within the powerplay and then to create enough chances to win the game, but the batters – Harmanpreet included – have to take equal blame as they stare down an early exit. India likely need to beat Bangladesh and then upset Australia to guarantee a semi-final spot as only two teams will qualify from the group. Anything less could leave their fate dependent on other results and net run rate.

Harmanpreet has spoken about infusing her side with positivity for the remaining games. That cannot be just for vibes. It has to reflect in the batting efforts.