Maharaj on Proteas capitulation: 'We need to be more proactive than reactive'

It was another torrid day for the Proteas on Friday as India soundly beat them in the fourth T20 international.

That leaves the series all tied up as 2-all with a match to play.

For the second match in a row, the Proteas batters didn't come to the party chasing India's total and Temba Bavuma's charges lost by 82 runs.

Initially, the Proteas' bowlers acquitted themselves well and had India in trouble before Hardik Pandya (46), and Dinesh Karthik (51) put on 65 for the fifth wicket.

Karthik, in particular, took to the Proteas bowling in the final five overs as India posted a respectable 169/6.

Keshav Maharaj, standing in for the injured Bavuma, acknowledged that the final five overs of the Indian innings put the Proteas on the back foot. 

"Obviously, it didn't go according to plan in the last five overs. We leaked a bit too much," Maharaj said during the post-match interview.

"DK [Karthik] played exceptionally well at the back end, but maybe we need to work on different plans and adapt a lot quicker,"

Maharaj believes following India's final five-over onslaught, the Proteas losing quick wickets during the powerplay set their chase back, and it was an uphill struggle from there on in.

"The way we started in the powerplay just set us back, and we couldn't find our way back in," he said.

"We stifled ourselves a little bit. We never really got going, and we lost wickets at crucial moments, so we couldn't get a foundation for a partnership to explode in the end. Fair play, the Indian team bowled really well today."

When asked if South Africa had not assessed the pitch correctly and struggled with the fact that it slowed down during their innings, Maharaj said that the Proteas perhaps need to be more proactive than reactive during the