Coach Rob Walter sure South Africa will learn 'new lessons' after humiliating loss to India

Proteas head coach Rob Walter says his team will learn "new lessons" ahead of the Cricket World Cup semi-final after a humiliating 243-run loss to hosts India in Kolkata.

Walter admitted his team were "out-skilled" by the host nation after being bowled out for a paltry 83 chasing a target of 327 with India riding on the back of Virat Kohli's record 49th century in the ODI format.

The Proteas had already secured their place in the semi-finals of the global tournament, along with table-topping India, before Sunday's contest at the iconic Eden Gardens.

Walter backed his players to bounce back from the big defeat ahead of the knockout stages and has no doubts they will raise their game should they play Rohit Sharma's charges with the trophy on the line.

"This game is a funny game and you get taught new lessons every single day and get surprised every single day, so it wouldn't surprise me if the tables turned the next time around," the Proteas mentor said.

"The beauty of it is that there may well be another shot for us and we've been given an opportunity to learn from that."

The Proteas have one final group match against Afghanistan on Friday before potentially returning to Kolkata for their semifinal showdown which is likely to be against Australia.

Temba Bavuma and his men suffered a shock loss against Netherlands early in the competition but hit back to secure a spot in the last-four and Walter is banking on that same mentality shining through again.

The head coach added: "The guys have worked incredibly hard to this point and we have invested a huge amount of time into our preparation.

"So now it's really about just mentally recovering, physically recovering and being ready to compete like we have the whole tournament."

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