• Proteas head coach Mark Boucher said the small piece of paper seen on the field was just self-set team targets, nothing more.
• The public was atwitter about what could have been written in the small scribble Temba Bavuma held.
• Pakistan took the three-match ODI series 2-1 after winning the decider by 28 runs in Centurion.

After social media "investigators" spotted Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma with a small piece of paper on the field when SA played Pakistan in Centurion, the public was atwitter about what could have been written in the small scribble.

However, Proteas head coach Mark Boucher poured cold water on the buzz over the piece of paper, dismissing it as just self-set targets that the skipper and the team monitor throughout the game.

READ | Proteas fall short against Pakistan: 5 talking points

"It was just targets - targets when we bat," Boucher said after the 3rd ODI defeat to Pakistan.

"Sometimes, when you chase a big total, to break it down into smaller pockets takes the pressure away from the batters out in the middle. They don't panic.

"I think the same in the bowling as well. I've said that we are not playing the small pockets that well, so we set our bowlers targets and try to keep the damage limit down.

"We must do that to keep the focus on the smaller areas of our game.

"[There's] nothing in it, really, it's just a guideline of where we are and where we want to be in a short period of time."

Pakistan took the three-match ODI series 2-1 after beating South Africa by 28 runs in the decider at SuperSport Park.

The depleted Proteas failed to chase down the visitors' 320/7 - set up by Fakhar Zaman's 101 and Babar Azam's 94 - despite Janneman Malan (70) and Kyle Verreynne (62) sparkling in the chase.

Source: News24