Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan defended the side's batting despite a stunning defeat in the second ODI against South Africa in Raipur. The Men in Blue posted a massive 358/5 in their 50 overs, but slowed down considerably in the final phase of the innings.After racing to 284/3 in 39 overs, the hosts scored only 74 in the final 11 overs, potentially falling short by a few runs. It proved costly as the Proteas chased down the target with four overs remaining.Talking about India's total being under-par, given the dewy conditions in the second innings, Zaheer said on Cricbuzz (3:54):"You can't ask for more than 358. Yes, if you get more, it's a bonus. If you are not able to defend 358, you'll struggle to defend 370 as well. The previous game also showed a glimpse of what South Africa can do and how the Indian bowlers were under pressure. This was a progression of that in this particular game."The former pacer believes India missed an opportunity to strike more in the power play."Initially there was still some movement that the bowlers could have taken advantage of. Arshdeep was very good with that. Harshit couldn't replicate what he did in the first game. That was the one moment where Markram was struggling early on with inside edges that went for boundaries," he said."There was an opportunity of creating pressure there which India missed. Markram cashed in on that. The other batters all contributed big after that. And maybe dew contributed a bit but it was a well managed run-chase," added Zaheer.359 was the joint-highest total ever chased down against India in ODIs and the Proteas' third successful run-chase of 350+ in the 50-over format."The captain is only as good as the support he is getting on the field" - Zaheer KhanZaheer Khan came in defense of Indian skipper KL Rahul despite the side failing to defend a mammoth total of 358 in the second South African ODI. While admitting the challenges of bowling with heavy dew, the former pacer believes the seamers could have bowled better lengths."The captain is only as good as the support he is getting on the field. What we've seen in the previous game and this one, when put under pressure, especially when dew is around, what kind of lengths are you hitting. When you look at the Indian bowlers, in their execution in the middle overs, you are either too short or too full. That was a continuation from the previous game," said Zaheer (via the aforementioned source).He continued:"Yes, it's challenging when dew is around. But this is the second time you are bowling in these conditions. Now that was the discussion that happened between the previous game and this game? What options you can go to is a leaf you can take out of Arshdeep's book. The slower ones into the pitch he continued with and he actually bettered his numbers from the previous game. Harshit and Prasidh were not able to do that.""When the ball is soapy and slipping out of your hands, it's not easy to consistently bowl the yorkers. The in between length is where you can hurry the batter and set the field accordingly. These are the smaller things if you get the percentage higher, you push the required run rate slightly up. That's where some work needs to be done."The Men in Blue struggled similarly under the dewy conditions in the series opener at Ranchi. Despite posting 349 on that occasion, they won by only 17 runs even after reducing the Proteas to 11/3.