Paarl, Jan 20 (IANS): After suffering a 31-run defeat, India skipper KL Rahul on Wednesday said that the middle-order of his team couldn't get going and they needed more partnerships while chasing a big target in the first ODI against South Africa, here.

Riding on fantastic centuries by Temba Bavuma (110 off 143) and Van der Dussen (129 not out off 96) along with some fine bowling efforts, South Africa beat India by 31 runs in the first ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at Boland Park.

"It was a nice game. There's so much to learn. We started off really well, we couldn't get wickets in the middle. We'll look to see how we get wickets in the middle overs and stop the opposition. The middle-order couldn't get going. We were on par for the first 20-25 overs of the game. I thought we would chase it down easily but SA bowled really well and got crucial wickets," Rahul said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Talking about the pitch, the India captain said, "I didn't bat after the 20th over, I don't know if it changed drastically. Virat and Shikhar told that it was a good wicket to bat on, you just had to spend some time in the middle, unfortunately we couldn't get the partnership going."

"They (South Africa) did really well, they put pressure on the bowlers and we couldn't get those wickets in the middle. 290 plus was 20 runs extra, but we just needed more partnerships in the middle," he added.

Rahul also said that the team will learn from the mistakes going ahead.

"Every game is important for us, we all want to go out there and give our best performances. We haven't played one-day cricket for a while, we have the WC in mind and we want to get the best XI on the park. We'll make mistakes but we'll learn from them," he said.