AB: No excuses for our shoddy effort

De Villiers - playing for pride.

South Africa batsman AB de Villiers is hoping to finish the tour of India with a victory in the final one-dayer in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

The Proteas have only pride to play for in the final one-dayer, with India having already sealed the series with victories in the first two games.

Wayne Parnell was run out off the last ball going for a second run which would have tied the opener in Jaipur, before Sachin Tendulkar made the first ever one-day international double-century in a 153-run rout in Gwalior.

While De Villiers believes his team have been far better than the results indicate, he also acknowledged that the home side have been the better team.

"I would say there is not much wrong with our team," de Villiers said.

"It is just that the Indian team has raised the bar in the last few games. We have learnt our lessons the hard way.

"There can be no excuses for our shoddy effort because we are quite experienced players, but the senior guys, myself included, haven't shouldered the responsibility that we were supposed to.

"The Indians have grabbed the chance and when in India you cannot afford to allow the home team an opportunity to come back.

"We have got a lot of pride to win back in the final match tomorrow."

South Africa began their tour with a resounding victory in the first Test in Nagpur, but were paid back in kind by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men in the second Test in Kolkata.

De Villiers admitted his team have had a poor tour.

"It hasn't been the best trip," he said.

"Drawing the Test series was a good effort although, after our loss at Kolkata, everyone seems to have forgotten about our win at Nagpur.

"Not much has gone our way thereafter.

"We could have won the first one-dayer at Jaipur but our top order failed us.

"At Gwalior, Tendulkar took the game away from us, but we want to finish the tour on a high note.

"A 2-1 scoreline sounds a lot better than 3-0. It is all about confidence and momentum."

At the start of the series South Africa's stand-in skipper Jacques Kallis had hoped the series would help the team prepare for next year's World Cup.

De Villiers insisted the team's plans have not been derailed.

"We have lots of time to prepare for the World Cup and I have a feeling that we will get things right in that time," he said.