Reality facing Proteas

Faf du Plessis and Russell Domingo will have had more than 60 hours to think about what went wrong in their World T20 campaign by the time they ease their tired bodies off the plane at OR Tambo International this morning.

That's how long their journey home will take following SA's six-wicket loss to India in the semi-finals in Dhaka on Friday.

But crossing time zones and the equator and being marooned in the sensory deprivation of airport lounges will not make Du Plessis and Domingo change their minds about when and where AB de Villiers should bat in T20s - in the second half of the innings.

Nor are they likely to admit that JP Duminy and Albie Morkel had no place taking the new ball, regardless of the conditions, and neither that Aaron Phangiso merited an opportunity instead of spending the entire tournament - after the warm-up games - on the bench.

But there is plenty to debate and time to do so before SA regroup to play three ODIs and two Tests, the latter under a captain yet to be appointed, in Sri Lanka in July.

Their next T20 engagement is against West Indies at home in January.

The new reality of SA cricket, then is about manoeuvring the pieces of a puzzle reshaped by the retirements of Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith. Domingo will do most of that work, and be answerable for how the decisions pan out.

The fact that, under him, SA did not choke at the WT20, as they have done at many tournaments, is another conversation that will be had.

Was Domingo instrumental in what could be seen as an improvement, or does that come down to the lack of pressure to compete on what was considered a comparatively weak SA side?

• An unbeaten 52 from Kumar Sangakkara took Sri Lanka to a six-wicket victory against favourites India in the final of the tournament at Mirpur yesterday.