Du Plessis' superb knock of 134 runs and his 205-run partnership with AB de Villiers had set South Africa up for a world record win but they fell short by eight runs while chasing a 458-tun target.
"This morning a lot of people wrote us off and the character that we have shown to pull this off, I am very satisfied with the result," he said.
"I was batting very well until the hundred, but then emotion took over me. There was a lot of work to be done and we would have liked to win the game and be part of the best Test match ever. But I am very satisfied. We did something similar in Australia and then we turned the momentum around, so we can hope for the same here," du Plessis added.
"We drew a lot of experience from that Adelaide game. I batted for a long time there and then I realized that I could actually bat for so long in a Test match. Obviously, the conditions there were different. In Australia, the ball doesn't seam as much and this pitch was harder. I wanted to see through the new ball, that was vital for us and I am happy we were able to do that and set ourselves up in the final session," he said.
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