Andile Phehlukwayo is confident that the Proteas can bounce back after their poor start to the World Cup.

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The Proteas had a horrid start to their World Cup campaign. They lost to England by 104 runs on the opening day and by 21 runs against Bangladesh in their second game.

This has put pressure on them to recover with a win, but it won’t be that simple, with India being their next opponent.

South Africa are India’s first opponent and will aim to start their competition with a win, while the Proteas will be desperate for a victory to get their campaign back on track.

Proteas all-rounder Phehlukwayo is convinced that the Proteas can put in the performance that is necessary to revive their World Cup ambition.

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‘There have been some bad days in my career,’ he said. ‘I’ve learnt, and the team has learnt that it is not the end of the world.

‘We can always bounce back, we are a team that bounces back from situations, and we will definitely do it again.

‘We haven’t had a good start, but this is a big tournament and anyone can beat anyone on any given day.

‘If you are smart and clinical and you execute, you’ll win. We’ve been missing that, but it’s coming.

‘The coach has mentioned winning small battles, breaking partnerships and taking wickets. It’s not far away.’

The loss against Bangladesh, in particular, was a tough pill to swallow, and Phehlukwayo explained what failed for them in the match.

‘It was one of those days,’ Phehlukwayo added. ‘There were patches where we actually had the game and could have put them under pressure.

‘Unfortunately, they managed to get a wicket after putting a lot of pressure on us.

‘There are a lot of things you can look at: partnerships, not enough pressure put on to them when we were bowling at the death; there were lots of runs scored in the final overs.

‘It was definitely a chaseable score, though, we just need to learn from it and try and stay more composed.’

Phehlukwayo has been one of the Proteas’ best players so far in the tournament. He has taken three wickets at an economy rate of 5.33.

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