Bhuvneshwar Kumar expressed that “things could have been different” if Team India had taken chances on the field after they lost to South Africa on Sunday.
Virat Kohli dropped an easy catch of Aiden Markram at deep mid-wicket off Ravichandran Ashwin when the batter was on 35. A couple of close run-outs were also missed which impacted the result.
“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 said.
“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,” the seamer added.
Markram scored 52 off 41 balls and added 76 crucial runs for the fourth wicket with David Miller (59 not out) as South Africa chased a target of 134 with two balls to spare.
Bhuvneshwar was sympathetic to the Indian top order which struggled to cope with extra pace, bounce, and movement.
“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 a belief that we can make a match of it.”
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 the 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 added.
(Inputs by PTI)
