It dents your ego when lower-order shows how to bat: Temba Bavuma

South Africa's top-order batsman Temba Bavuma can feel his ego somewhat dented after Vernon Philander and Keshav Maharaj showed there was no demons in the Pune track, where the established players came a cropper in the second Test against India here.

Maharaj (72) and Philander (44 not out) contributed with a 109-run stand for the ninth wicket in South Africa's 275 all out in reply to India's huge 601/5 declared in the first innings.

"Look, from the guys at the top of the order, entrusted with scoring the bulk of the runs, it does kind of hurt. It does dent your ego when they (lower-order) seem to know how to go out and fight it out to do what you're really playing to do," Bavuma, who has not had a great series, said at the end of the third day's play.

The positive aspect of the South African first essay was the fact that the pitch has remained firm and is still good for batting.

"I think looking forward to the second innings, there is a lot of confidence we can take in from the fact that it is not all demons out there. We just got to find a way to dominate with the bat just as India have done so," said the pint-sized right-hander.

Bavuma failed to pinpoint why South Africa's top-order save Dean Elgar in the first Test has consistently failed in three successive innings.

"I don't have the answers to why it is going wrong. The obvious one is that we're not able to put up partnerships. We have not been able to absorb and sustain the pressure that Indian bowlers have put on us for consistent periods of time. That is obviously something we will try to rectify.:
"We had an honest and truthful chat with the coach. He gave us his true feelings, his true thoughts on our effort on the last two days. He was really critical of our effort. Basically he said all that has happened we have got to find a way."