South Africa missed senior players – Gibson

South Africa head coach Ottis Gibson admitted the loss of senior players was a major factor in consecutive white-ball series defeats by India. The tourists won the final T20I on Saturday evening by seven runs at Newlands to seal the series 2-1 and add to their 5-1 ODI triumph.

The victory provided the perfect finish to India's tour, which had began in difficulty with defeats in the opening two Test matches. Virat Kohli's side were far superior in the 50-over and 20-over formats though. Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav dominated the ODIs, while Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma all scored well with the bat.

India looked stronger in the T20s too as their nerveless seamers, led by Player of the Series Bhuvneshwar Kumar, clinched the series and left a depleted and dejected South Africa to reflect on disappointment.

While Gibson was quick to praise Lungi Ngidi, Heinrich Klaasen, Junior Dala and Christiaan Jonker for their contributions, he said the absence of the likes of Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Dale Steyn was keenly felt.

"Seniors in any team makes it stronger," he said after defeat on Saturday. "Especially the seniors we have coming back into the team – it has been a massive loss without them being here.

"We all thought that AB's body is better than what it was in ODIs. I hope he is somewhere near 100 per cent and he can take his place in the team. Even Dale Steyn is not far away again. So, we missed the seniors in this series, no doubt about that. So having them back will give everybody a lift."

Both du Plessis and de Villiers succumbed to finger injuries, while de Kock is recovering from a wrist problem and Steyn has been sidelined with a heel complaint for some time.

In their absence South Africa were forced to give opportunities to young players, with Klaasen, Dala and Jonker all making their T20I debuts against India.

Wicket-keeper Klaasen filled de Kock's position well, impressing with the gloves and a match-winning 69 in the second T20I, while Dala claimed a series-high seven wickets and Jonker struck 49 from 24 balls in the final game.

"Losing is not always very easy, but when you are missing so many of your seniors, and then some new people coming and putting their names forward, the results are too hard to take," Gibson said. "You obviously look at future and the future seems like it is going to be bright."

While the inexperienced players produced plenty of encouraging performances, it was the likes of Chris Morris and David Miller who disappointed. Gibson urged those out of form to return to domestic competitions and re-find it.

"I am a big fan of strong domestic league or tournament which will produce better players for international cricket," he said. "And if you have international cricketers not performing, then I'd think domestic cricket would be the place to go back and raise the standard of domestic cricket so that it becomes a little bit better.

"[However] the gulf between domestic cricket and international cricket is still quite a wide one."

South Africa don't have much time to dwell on the defeats however, with the first match of a four-Test series against Australia beginning on Thursday 1 March.