Keshav Maharaj has called on his teammates to quickly find a way to tackle new-ball swing after the South Africans got razed to the ground by the India pacers in the opening T20I of the series here on Wednesday.

The Proteas were reduced to 9/5 within the third over before they managed a late fightback of sorts to somehow cross the 100-run mark in 20 overs and post 106/8.

India speedsters Deepak Chahar (2/24) and Arshdeep Singh (3/32) shared the first five wickets between them.

“I don’t think it’s a chapter we need to dwell too much on. However, we do need to chat about how we started,” Maharaj, who top-scored for his side with a 35-ball 41, said at the post-match media conference.

“The application we saw upfront, we need to re-assess that and find ways to combat the swing. The ball did swing prodigiously in the first couple of overs,” he added.

The Proteas admitted that they were taken by surprise with the amount of swing that the India bowlers were getting.

“We didn’t expect the ball to swing so prodigiously. It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, it was two-paced, the oddballs skidded through, a lot of tennis ball bounce at various points,” Maharaj said.

“I don’t think we want to dwell too much on what has transpired, but it is something that we can address going forward and hopefully we can rectify that,” he added.

Maharaj believes the solution lies in a change of mindset. “...Maybe just adjust our plan and mindset and take it from there,” the left-arm spinner said.

Even though they lost the game, Maharaj feels his team did well to make a match out of the contest after being in such a precarious position at the beginning of the game.

“When you are put under pressure it is difficult to come back, but the boys showed a little bit of fight and character... we can take a lot of positives from that,” Maharajsummed up.