Key Points

Nadine de Klerk's majestic half-century powered South Africa to a thrilling three-wicket victory over India in the ongoing Women's World Cup. South Africa recovered from an early batting collapse in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. De Klerk's fightback stunned India as South Africa chased 252 in the penultimate over.

It wasn't the result the Women in Blue were looking for, suffering their first defeat of the competition at the hands of a defiant South Africa.

However, the mood is set to remain calm and determined within the Indian camp as they begin preparations for a stretch of games against fellow contenders, starting with Australia on Sunday.

Speaking to the media in the post-match press conference on Thursday night, Richa Ghosh vowed India would respond quickly.

Speaking on the loss, Richa Ghosh told reporters, as quoted by ICC, "We played well, and so did they. It would've felt great if we'd won, but we gave it our all. It's OK -- we'll come back stronger in the next match. One match doesn't define (the top-order). Anything can happen in cricket; it's our job to do our best every time. We played until the last ball and tried to get as many runs as possible. Whatever plans we had, we tried to execute them. The pace bowlers followed their plans too. But credit to the opposition -- they batted really well. The way they hit the ball was outstanding. I think full credit goes to them for playing such good shots."

"We'll sit down and review -- see what went well, where we can improve, and how we can keep learning every day. There'll be a meeting for that. One game won't change our mindset. We'll plan things step by step during practice sessions and stay positive. Whatever lessons we got from today's match, we'll carry those forward," the wicketkeeper-batter added.

India will play unbeaten reigning champions Australia on Sunday. Following the Aussies, India's next two matches are against fellow heavyweights England and New Zealand. And they will need Ghosh to remain at her hard-hitting best.

"If the ball was in my zone, I went for the shot; if not, I tried to rotate the strike as much as possible because the partnership was most important. That was what was going on in my mind. And because everyone trusts me, I think that gave me confidence too," she concluded.

India Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kranti Gaud, Amanjot Kaur, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Sneh Rana.

- ANI