Skipper Temba Bavuma acknowledged on Tuesday that the Proteas had simply been outplayed by India in the third T20 international in Visakhapatnam.
India won the match by 48 runs after being asked to bat and set South Africa 180 to win and the chance to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
The Proteas lost early wickets, however, and were never in the hunt as Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal took seven wickets between them to secure victory for the home side.
Speaking afterwards, Bavuma said that in all disciplines, the hosts were the better team on the day.
"As a collective, it wasn't our best effort today, and they were definitely the better team," Bavuma said.
India openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (57) and the Ishan Kishan (54) put the South African bowlers under immense pressure, with the pair putting on 97 for the first wicket in just 10 overs.
"They put us under pressure, especially the first 10 overs, and I thought we did well the next 10 overs to restrict them to 180."
The Proteas' fielding was poor during the match, with the reliable David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen dropping Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya. Bavuma admitted that the fielding wasn't to a high enough standard but said that the loss of early wickets put the Proteas middle order under pressure during the chase.
"We probably could have done a lot more. The fielding didn't back us up," Bavuma said.
"With the batting, we didn't pitch up, and the partnerships weren't there. We weren't able to get any momentum into our innings.
"We always try to assess in the first two overs [when batting] and then look to get some momentum going in our innings. Unfortunately, we couldn't do that," he added.
The fourth T20 international takes place on Friday at 15:30 SA time.