India were a little sloppy in the field during their five-wicket defeat to South Africa in a Super 12 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday. Aiden Markram benefitted from a couple of missed run-out chances and a dropped catch to make a vital 51 to help his team in a tricky chase of 134 at the Perth Stadium.
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While Rohit Sharma failed to make two direct hits on separate occasions to end Markram’s innings, Virat Kohli dropped a dolly in the deep when the batter was on 35. India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar accepted that had those chances been taken, the result could have been different.
“Yes, if you had taken those catches, it would have been different. Catches win matches and those chances, if taken could have made the difference," Bhuvneshwar told reporters during a post match interaction.
It was David Miller who top-scored with unbeaten 59 and added 76 runs for the fourth wicket with Markram to help South Africa overhaul the target of 134 in 19.4 overs. The win took them to the top spot in the Group 2 points table.
However, Bhuvneshwar said the momentum didn’t change because of those missed chances. “Not really, the catch we dropped and run out chances that we missed, I won’t say momentum shifted but it would have been different. But I won’t pinpoint any particular moment as such," he said.
The 32-year-old pointed out that the surface wasn’t easy to bat on.
“When it comes to batting, we all know it was a difficult wicket to bat on. If you look at the tournament so far, the par score has been around 140 and so. We believed that with 140, we had belief that we can make a match of it," Bhuvneshwar said.
He defended skipper Rohit Sharma’s decision to give Ashwin the 18th over (his fourth) after going for 17 runs in the 14th over. The only other option Rohit had was Deepak Hooda.
“Generally, the thought is that if spinner could keep things tight, it would have been difficult for the batters in the end while facing the pacers. And if you keep a spinner at the end then it becomes easier for batting. Had we got a wicket, things could have changed," he rued.
Unlike India, where chasing is the order of the day in T20Is due to the dew factor, conditions in Australia change from one city to another.
“That’s the beauty of Australia. In India, you try to chase as you have dew. In Australia, things change from city to city and here it was difficult chasing but it could be different in next city we go," he added.
He didn’t want to give the extreme cold conditions as an excuse for not doing well.
“It was very difficult but we never talked about that as we knew we have to cope with those conditions. Even in Melbourne it was cold but we never talked about these things."
With PTI Inputs
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