Rahul Dravid was a downcast man after the embarrassing 157-run defeat at Kingsmead, admitting that his team just wasn't good enough in the face of some hostile and accurate fast bowling from South Africa's quintet. From 62 for 2, the downward spiral was spectacular and brief, with Andre Nel and Jacques Kallis picking up 7 for 16 between them.
Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni accounted for 67 of those runs, and Dravid was forced to admit later that the India's fortunes on this tour may well rest on his and Tendulkar's shoulders. "We are the experienced players of the team; we are the ones who have been here before," he said. "We're pretty disappointed not to have put up a better show with the bat after we did well to restrict them to 248."
The bowling effort had been full of promise, with the runs kept down despite a marvellous century from Jacques Kallis. "There were some good signs with the ball and some positives came out of our bowling," he said. "I was pretty happy with the way the boys performed in the first half of the game. But we were just not good enough with the bat."
With Shaun Pollock bowling a superb opening spell, South Africa got the early breakthrough they needed to defend 248, and once Charl Langeveldt and Nel produced beautiful deliveries to get rid of Dravid and Tendulkar, the descent into hell was mercifully quick. "Probably, our shot selection against some of the fast bowlers is something we need to look at and reassess when we go into the next match," said Dravid. "We will be definitely looking to perform much better with the bat. We have to improve from here and put in some better performances if we want to competitive in the series."
This was India's 13th one-day defeat in 17 games against South Africa in these climes, and Dravid accepted that it would take an almighty effort to turn things around. "It's going to be a challenge," he said. "That's where your ability and character are tested. And if you can come out of a tour like this with some good scores and runs, it will give you a lot of confidence.
"We will have to play better. After going through how we got out, we will have to learn. I must say that the South Africans bowled well, and we did not have a good day."
After a nightmarish start to the tour, he can only take consolation in the fact that it can't get any worse. Or will it?