Suryakumar Yadav has deposited many a six with a pick-up shot to a ball attacking his legs. On Sunday, he picked another ball off his legs, but his bat went slightly more vertical than he would've liked, and the ball dropped on Ottniel Baartman, who took a fine, tumbling catch at fine leg.

He has been dismissed in that fashion a few times now.

In the context of the game, with India needing nine runs in 33 balls, maybe he didn't have to challenge the fielder at the boundary. But he was just about finding his groove. After being surprised by an Anrich Nortje delivery that shot up from the deck and forced him into a late cut which caught the edge and nearly carried to the fielder at third, Suryakumar cut loose in the next over off Lungi Ngidi.

He went aerial over mid off to a length delivery and then pulled his next ball - a short-pitched gift - for another boundary. The suspect and cautious start, where he was even beaten for pace at times, had made way for the kind of form his T20 batting has cried for post IPL. He had found the rhythm, but he wouldn't have gained much by finishing the game early. Spending time in the middle would have served him better - and, by extension, the team as well.

Quite unlike the start he had in Dharamsala, it's not that his batting has lacked fluency in this period. But his inability to play innings of substance for a lengthy period of time has come to pose a critical problem for the team in their build up to the World Cup. Coming into the match, he averaged less than 15 - at a strike rate of 126.41 - in T20Is this year.

The platform was set yet again to shake off that concern - if not with a big score, but at least some time in the middle, the kind of which the other out-of-form batter, Shubman Gill, utilised with a 28-ball stay in the middle, even if it came in return for only 28 runs. But Suryakumar delayed his arrival to the crease, promoting the in-form Tilak Varma to No 3. By the time the skipper arrived in the middle, India were left needing only 26 runs.

In some ways, the contest was shut down in the powerplay of the first innings itself, when Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana ran through the top order taking advantage of the swinging conditions. Any attempt by the South African middle order to bail out of that poor start was also kept in check by Varun Chakaravarthy, who was well-supported by the rest of the bowling group as the visitors were skittled out for 117. The reason they even stretched as far as they did was Aiden Markram, Suryakumar's counterpart, who waged a lone battle with a fighting 61.

Abhishek Sharma's early assault yet again ensured that there wasn't much to valourise in the South African captain's fight eventually, with India literally shutting shop for four overs en route the target, and yet overhauling it comfortably. But the opportunity to use the excess time in the game with low-pressure batting as the ideal laboratory for rediscovering form was left wasted.

Suryakumar isn't putting a front of being fussed. Following India's win on Sunday, he reiterated that he is 'out of runs, not out of form'.

"The thing is, I've been batting beautifully in the nets. I'm trying everything that's in my control. When the runs have to come, they'll definitely come. But yes, I'm looking for runs, not out of form, but definitely out of runs," he said at the presentation ceremony.

In some ways, a 2-1 lead in the series, a second emphatic victory in three games, back-up resources standing up well when thrown at the deep end, and having most bases covered, should ideally bode well for India. But three games down, the biggest of their concerns haven't been ticked off the list. Long awaited impactful knocks from Gill and Suryakumar still remain due. The former took slight advantage in a low-total run-chase on Sunday, but it's far from the 'high expectations' that assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has spoken about.

Suryakumar had addressed the need for him and his deputy to step up, to take the load off the in-form Abhishek Sharma, but with the series entering its last leg and the World Cup looming closer, the window to turn intent into impact is narrowing rapidly.