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Cape Town - A bittersweet Reeza Hendricks addressed the media after the Proteas failed once again to overcome India in their first T20I match at the Wanderers.
Hendricks impressed with the bat, scoring 70 off 50 balls as the Proteas struggled to chase down 204 for victory.
READ: Duminy: Senior batsmen have to take responsibility
The Proteas opening batsman admitted that he was disappointed not to get South Africa over the finishing line.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity, so I had to just go out there and express myself and try and contribute as well as I could," Hendricks told reporters after the 28-run loss.
"I don't think I worked on anything much different to what I've been doing, trying to keep it as simple as possible, backing my game plans and backing my strengths, so I just went with that and fortunate it came off today.
"The Indians bowled really well. We started very slowly, I think, and then I had to get myself and take it deep as possible. With wickets falling around, I managed to do that, but I would have loved to have taken the team home," he said.
Hendricks revealed that things did not go according to plan for the Proteas mainly due to Bhuvneshwar Kumar's career-best figures of 5/24.
"I think they (India) just executed their plans and kept it very simple. That's pretty much it compared to what we did. Obviously their Powerplay was much better than ours. Looking back, that's where we lost our way," said Hendricks.
"He (Kumar) was just consistent in his area, which is pretty much giving us nothing to score. We had to be happy with ones and twos."
The Proteas trail the three-match T20I series, 1-0 with the second T20I starting on Wednesday in Centurion at 18:00.
