Faf du Plessis was lost in translation. Will he miss Dhoni, he was asked at his press conference before the third Test in Ranchi.
In the absence of enough dots to connect the far-flung first languages spoken by Du Plessis and the reporter to their shared second tongue, English, the message sailed wide of its mark.
Du Plessis, trying hard to be his usual articulate self, couldn't get closer to the truth than repeating the question: "Dhoni? Will we see Dhoni? Do I miss him?
"I know he's from Ranchi .
"What is he ..? I can't ..? I know Dhoni's from Ranchi. I've been to his house.
"But I'm not going to be seeing him on the cricket field, unless there's a surprise."
Despite having last played a Test almost five years ago, MS Dhoni is a much-loved figure everywhere in India.
And particularly in Ranchi - his hometown and where his name, in shiny, large capitals, full stops and all, has adorned the pavilion at the southern end of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association stadium since March.
The reporter was trying to get a line on whether Du Plessis would sense a Dhoni-sized hole in the soul of the match. The two had, after all, appeared together in most of the 71 games Du Plessis has played for the Chennai Super Kings.
Had Du Plessis had his wits about him more snugly he might have said: "I'll miss having someone as dependable as Dhoni in my team."
Then again, perhaps not. The last thing Du Plessis and his side need is to wish for something they cannot have.
Whatever happens in the third Test, SA's batting order needs rebuilding in the wake of their poor performance on good pitches in India.
Not only has much of their experience gone, so has most of their confidence. It's not only about whether they have players in the right positions, it's also about whether they have the right players.
"The depth that's been taken out of SA in the last three years doesn't help," former SA batting coach Neil McKenzie said on Friday. "The next tier down, or even the tier that's playing Test cricket, has lost a lot of bowlers and batters.
"Off the top of my head I can think of 15 guys who, for various reasons, are not playing in the game.
"If they're not playing for SA, they should be playing for the franchises.
"It's two or three quality players out of each side - Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw, Stephen Cook, Heino Kuhn, Simon Harmer ...
"It's hard to put the blame anywhere because in some of those cases they were individual decisions taken after Cricket SA had bent over backwards to try and accommodate them.
"But take those type of players out of any side and it's a different side."
The idea that talent rises inexorably from a bottomless well - closer to the truth is that it flows along a pipeline that can spring leaks or be misdirected - didn't help.
"You know that, through our school structures, you've always got quality coming through; you can see that in rugby as well," McKenzie said. "So you almost take it for granted, and when someone wants to leave you let them leave because there'll be another guy to take his place.
"But you don't want to keep investing in these guys and they're leaving as soon as they get a gap."
Neither were the green, seaming pitches SA have been preparing a boon to batters.
"We try to finish a game in three-and-a-half days," McKenzie said.
"We've got to back ourselves to try and get a win on day four or five. That's what builds confidence."
The kind of confidence you feel when Dhoni walks out to bat, which South Africans knew when they saw Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy padded up and good to go, and before them Smith, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher, and before them Ashwell Prince and Herschelle Gibbs, and before them Kepler Wessels and Peter Kirsten.
Translation: it's going to be a while before you know that feeling again, Mzansi. If ever.
