Sachin Tendulkar launched India's innings with a solid 99

India captain Rahul Dravid blamed the team's poor scoring in the last 10 overs of their innings for defeat by South Africa in Belfast.

"Probably, with eight wickets in hand, we would have liked more than 60 in the last 10 overs, maybe 70 or 75.

"That would have been more par for the course on the slog.

"But some good shots from the guys went straight to the fielders - and they bowled well at the death," said Dravid, following their four-wicket loss.

He singled out Piyush Chawla for special praise, after the young leg-spinner returned figures of 3-47 from his 10 overs.

"I think he acquitted himself very well, considering the conditions. It's not a track that really helps the spinners too much and it was really cold.

"For a leg-spinner it wasn't easy to grip the ball, but the more he can bowl in these conditions, the more he is going to learn, and it's going to be good for his growth and development as a cricketer," Dravid commented.

The match was the first of three against South Africa before India head for Glasgow to take on Pakistan in a one-off fixture. After that, they head south to England for a full-scale tour.

Despite the result, Dravid insisted his side had made a "good start".

South Africa ran out Tendulkar to deny him a century

He added: "It's the early part of the tour. We are coming from 45 degrees [heat] and totally different wickets. I thought for the batsmen to hit some early form was a good sign."

The squad remains affected be a flu bug, however, and Baroda seam bowler Rakesh Patel has been summoned from playing club cricket in Liverpool to join the squad.

Opposite number Jacques Kallis, meanwhile, was delighted by another good performance from all-rounder Vernon Philander, who followed his four wickets against Ireland last Sunday with another tidy spell of bowling and by hitting the winning boundary.

"Vernon did extremely well there at the end to finish it off. To come in and perform the way he has shows big character. He's done it back home in domestic cricket - and this time he did at the highest level.

"He's setting himself some high standards to maintain," said Kallis.

"We said the Afro-Asia [Cup] and this tour would be times when we would be experimenting with a few young guys in our one-day side, and guys who put in big performances can make places their own.