Wiaan Mulder gets candid after Proteas defeat

South Africa were bowled out for a paltry 106 inside 34 overs in their first of three One Day International matches in Sharjah, UAE on Wednesday, as Afghanistan won by six wickets and 24 overs to spare.

It was the little-known 18-year-old who ripped through the middle order, after pace bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi dismissed the top order, and managed 3/20 as the Proteas were left reeling early in their innings, and Mulder shared how they didn't know what had hit them.

"So, the difficult one was that there wasn't a lot of footage on him, which, in terms of our preparation, made it really difficult – we just knew he was an off-spinner," said Mulder.

"We were aware he had a variation of some sort, but to understand that the variation was going to spin as much as it did away from the right-hand batter was the tricky part for most of us, and that created a lot of insecurity in terms of how we were going to play the guy.

"We did know he came from the under-19s but he was very raw and is not someone we've come across before, but there was a lot of communication during the game, trying to understand how we could play him, what the method to give us a chance to score.

"So there was a lot of communication during the game, and I think going into today [training], with the conversations after the game all about how we could pick each other's brains to have a better understanding when he comes tomorrow [in the second ODI]."

It was South Africa's fifth-lowest ODI total ever, while the Afghans managed to bowl them out for the first time ever in white-ball cricket – a defeat that certainly left its mark on Mulder, who topped scored with 52 runs off 84 deliveries.

"It's terrible, to be honest. I haven't won in a green shirt in a while, so for me, personally, it sucks. No matter how well you do, if you lose as a team, personally, it's just not nice at all," he added.

"Especially when you're representing your country, you want to represent more than yourself, you want to represent your family, all the people at home, and no matter how well you do personally in games where you lose, it hurts a lot.

"But it's also something we can and do use motivation to try and, the next time we play, really go out there and give it our all, no matter how hard the conditions, to try and find a way to win a game – that's our problem-solving mindset going into the next game."

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