South Africa fell short by 50 runs in a chase of 363 in Lahore. Bavuma made a half-century as he tried to anchor the innings, Rassie van der Dussen contributed 69 off 66 and David Miller scored a second successive semi-final hundred but it wasn't enough.

"I think he's a fantastic leader," Philander said of Bavuma on ESPNcricinfo's Match Day show. "I think what he has done over the last 24 months is that he has started to win that change room over. I think he's done phenomenally well in the Test match arena [where they will play the 2025 championship final] and I don't think we play near enough ODI cricket to play judgement down on it.

"But if you look at his numbers, you look at his records in ODI cricket, I think he has been a wonderful player for South Africa. I think he has led from the front with the bat.

"Of course, this evening he just couldn't get going, but yeah they were heavily reliant on his form to get South Africa to where they are this evening - obviously falling one hurdle short of another final.

"But I wouldn't make a call too early. It's still early days. I think Temba still has a couple of years left in him," Philander said. "I just think Cricket South Africa will need to have an overall look at the way they approach, the way they prepare [for ICC tournaments]."

"And that starts from the top - from your coaches, from your video analysis: 'What's going to make my players more effective?' and then you give the charge over to the captain and say 'off you go'. So yeah, I just think a lot more planning that needs to be taking place heading into these tournaments."

"I do feel it's a conversation that needs to happen at the top. I think we've got enough players playing in the IPL. They've got enough experience playing on these slower surfaces," Philander said. "So it is a conversation, and an open conversation. At the end of the day you also need to be honest sitting around the table when those kinds of chat do transpire.

"But I do feel from a talent point of view, South Africa have got plenty. But it's about making those right calls for the conditions at hand. I certainly feel we are not too far away from lifting silverware, but at the end of the day, those honest conversations will need to be had sooner or later.

"From a management point of view, for years we have stuck to our guns in terms of backing our seamers. But I think we need to go and reassess."

Philander expanded on that, saying the team may need to veer away from playing to their strengths to playing the conditions.

"This is not our first tour to the subcontinent," he said. "There have been generations that have been here before. It is certainly time, from a leadership point of view, we start taking accountability, and for generations to come, what's going to be effective touring the subcontinent? And certainly in the spin department, we also have to then make sure we produce the quality and calibre of spinners to win you games in the subcontinent.

"But if you look at conditions this evening again, [Shamsi] is definitely a much more effective option on those kind of surfaces given the fact that the seamers were really skidding on and the batters enjoy the ball coming onto the bat.

"I think it's a conversation that needs to start at the top, the management needs to be part of it. I think we need to be challenged differently. For far too long, we persist with 'seamers are going to win you the game' irrespective of whether it's at home or in the subcontinent.

Philander pointed out, as an example, that bringing spin on earlier could have helped slow down Rachin Ravindra, who took on South Africa's pacers to give New Zealand a strong start.

"Today it was illustrated again. Had we brought spin on earlier in the powerplay, we could have curbed Ravindra from getting off to an absolute flyer at the start. Those are little things that you have to put into play," he said. "You can't just play one brand of cricket and hope for results to go your way. Conditions these days play a massive factor in all outcomes of cricket matches and you have to factor in conditions. I don't think you can be naïve and say that we will go with our four seamers and boss a game in the subcontinent."