India captain KL Rahul conceded that India kept making the same mistakes through the course of the ODI series in South Africa as they suffered their first-ever whitewash in the 50-over format in the Rainbow Nation. Rahul added that India need to have some hard conversations within the group to get back in track in the lead up to the 2023 World Cup.

India lost a thriller in the 3rd ODI by 4 runs in Cape Town on Sunday as they fell short of a 288-run target to lose all the ODIs in the 3-match series. India failed to chase 297 in the first ODI, failed to defend 288 in the 2nd ODI and failed in the chase once again in the final ODI.

South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI: Report | Highlights

Deepak Chahar came up with a valiant effort, hitting a 34-ball 54 while batting down the order but India lost the game because of another middle-order collapse. While captain Rahul got out early, Virat Kohli (65) and Shikhar Dhawan (61) got to good starts but weren’t able to continue and get a big score like Quinton de Kock who posted 124 after India won the toes and opted to bowl in Cape Town. Pant got out for 0 after which Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav got to 30s and threw their wickets away.

In all 3 ODIs, India batters got off to starts but weren’t able to get a big 3-figure score. While Kohli and Dhawan hit fifties in the first and third ODIs, Rishabh Pant fell for 85 in the 2nd ODI.

“Deepak gave us a real chance of winning the game. Quite an exciting game, just disappointed we ended up on the losing side. We gave ourselves a real chance, something we can learn from and get better,” Rahul said.

“Quite obvious where we’ve gone wrong. No shying away from it. At times our shot selection has been poor. Even with the ball we haven’t been hitting the right areas consistently. Have played well in patches but haven’t built pressure over a long period,” he added.

However, Rahul backed his team, saying he can’t fault the passion and energy that they brought to the field despite conceding an unbeatable lead as early as the 2nd ODI.

WE CAN’T FAULT THE BOYS FOR PASSION:: RAHUL

Rahul, however, maintained that it’s time for India to look into the mirror and fix their issues before heading to the 2023 World Cup.

“Look, I have been part of the team for quite some time. We can’t fault the boys for the passion and the effort we put in on the field. In terms of skill and understanding the situation – sometimes we’ve gone wrong. But it happens – we’ve got some new guys in the team. In the one-day series at times we’ve kept doing the same mistakes,” he added.

“It’s early in our journey to the World Cup. We can go back, have some hard conversations. Have had a great time in SA. Have been looked after really well. We’ve shown a lot of fight,” he added.

It was not an ideal start to KL Rahul’s captaincy stint in ODIs as India were clean swept. Head coach Rahul Dravid will have some tough questions to answer after losing 5 out of 6 matches in his first overseas tour.