Soft dismissals and a lack of partnerships cost South Africa dearly in their seven-wicket loss to Bangladesh in the second ODI on Sunday, says Farhaan Behardien.

After winning the toss and batting first, the South African batsmen could only reach 162 as they failed to bat out their 50 overs. Behardien, along with Faf du Plessis, were the only batsmen who offered some kind of resistance to the spinners of the home side.

Bangladesh managed to chase down the target of 163 quite comfortably in the end to level the series as the team head into the third and final ODI in Chittagong on Wednesday.

‘We were not surprised at all by how well Bangladesh played,’ Behardien said after the game.

‘It doesn’t look like it, but the wicket didn’t play too badly. It was actually one of the better wickets we’ve played on here. Losing regular wickets on a good pitch like that makes it difficult to build partnerships.

‘We also had a few soft dismissals. In the end it just wasn’t our day.’

Behardien wasn’t asked about his own knock of 36, but the importance of his innings in the context of his place in the one-day team can’t be overstated.

The likes of Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy will be under pressure to perform with the bat in the last game before the Test series starts.

Morne Morkel should get a start in the place of Chris Morris while Kagiso Rabada has been very impressive so far and should keep his place in the starting XI.