Under attack for the team's dismal showings of late, Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sharad Pawar on Friday sought to remind angry fans that this is the same team which had done so well only a few months back.
Pawar admitted there is a lot of scope for improvement but said lack of enough warm-up matches ahead of the one-day series may have had a bearing on the team's performance.
"It is true that their performance was not up to the mark and there is tremendous scope to improve But one should not forget that it is the same team, the same captain and the same coach which had given extremely good results in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies," Pawar said in New Delhi.
The BCCI chief said whenever a team undertakes a tour, it should get three to four warm-up matches to acclimatise to the conditions.
"Whenever a team visits any country they should get three to four matches for warm up. The Indians got only one match and this [Durban] was the second match. That might be the reason their performance was not good."
Pawar also said he had discussed the team's performance with chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar.
The Indians crashed to a huge 157-run defeat in Durban on Sunday, triggering angry reactions from fans and Parliamentarians.