Proteas captain Heinrich Klaasen says there were times in Thursday’s defeat to Pakistan where his team’s bowlers could’ve been tighter.

The new-look T20 outfit looked on top of their game in most departments but still suffered a three-run defeat, thanks largely to an unbeaten century by Mohammad Rizwan.

The Proteas bowlers made a good start in the Powerplay but the middle overs cost them in the end, according to Klaasen.

READ: Pakistan edge Proteas in opening T20I

‘We don’t like losing, especially when we made life difficult for ourselves. One or two things didn’t go the way we planned with the ball,’ the stand-in captain said after the game.

‘We’ll go back and reassess those one or two overs, but I was pleased with how the bowlers went. It was those four or five overs in the middle where we really made life difficult with ourselves. We could’ve chased less than what we did and we could’ve got over the line.’

Openers Janneman Malan and Reeza Hendricks made a decent start to the run-chase of 170. But, the middle-order of the batting unit failed to add any worthy contributions that hampered the Proteas quest to reach the target.

It left a tall order in the final few overs where Dwaine Pretorius and Bjorn Fortuin almost pulled off the unthinkable before falling just short.

‘The two wickets in the early phase didn’t help us and it put us on the back foot, especially when we were chasing 170. I thought they were about ten runs short. I hope in the next game we are able to raise our intensity for the middle phase and hopefully be able to get over the line,’ Klaasen added.