Proteas' litany of choking

Out-batted. Out-bowled. Out-fielded. Out-captained. Out-thought. Out-played. Out-done. And out of the Champions' Trophy.

India beat the Proteas, officially by eight wickets but in reality in every which way, and in a few others, in their last group game at The Oval on Sunday.

Winning was non-negotiable for South Africa if they were to reach the semifinals.

Instead, they played their worst cricket when it mattered most and suffered their 19th nervous breakdown in the 20 International Cricket Council tournaments since readmission in 1991.

Take the second ball of the 28th over on Sunday.

Ravindra Jadeja bowled to Faf du Plessis, who pushed to point for a non-existent single.

AB de Villiers' heart was in it as he flew in from the non-striker's end.

But his bat was not, despite a full-length effort, and he was run out.

Five balls later, David Miller sped towards Du Plessis after the latter had cut Ravichandran Ashwin to short third man.

Du Plessis set off only to think better of it and turn - and race Miller to the same crease.

Miller was sacrificed.

De Villiers' wicket was the first in an avalanche of 8/41, which condemned South Africa to a hopelessly inadequate total of 191.

"I take full responsibility for AB's runout; that's my fault," Du Plessis said.

"Dave came in and we discussed how extremely loud it was out there and difficult to hear each other.

"So the communication between the two of us was, just for the next five overs, play it as risk-free as possible.

"Try to get the partnership going - settle the partnership.

"Because the last thing you want to do is go wicket, wicket.

"And then, two or three balls later, there's a miscommunication and then Dave ran, and it is not a great sight to see two guys standing in the same crease."

Du Plessis himself was out 5.1 overs after De Villiers went when he chopped on to Hardik Pandya.

"Those five overs, in a game like today, that is very, very big," Du Plessis said.

"You either settle and get through the pressure and absorb it or you don't, and we didn't.

"India dominated us in all aspects and that shouldn't happen.

"We are a much better team than that. We wanted to get the basics right and we didn't.

"We were poor today."

So, what to do before the 2019 World Cup?

"I'm not thinking about the next one now," De Villiers said.

"We just want to get through this hurt now - it's hurting quite bad." - TMG Digital/TMG Sport