T20 World Cup India vs South Africa: We could not hold on to our chances, says Rohit Sharma | Cricket News – Times of India

PERTH: Both pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and captain Rohit Sharma were left ruing India’s missed chances in the field after the defeat to South Africa. The normally electric Virat Kohli missed a crucial catch while Rohit himself missed an easy run-out chance. Bhuvneshwar made no bones about the fact that he was disappointed with the fielding effort.
“Yes, if you take those catches it’s a different thing. You know catches win matches,” he said. “If we could have taken those chances, who knows things could have been different.”

Asked at what point in the field he felt the momentum shifting towards the South Africans, Bhuvi said, “The catches we dropped and the chances we missed, I think. I wouldn’t say the momentum shifted. . . but if (only) we could have caught those chances. . . ”
Captain Rohit too said during the post-match presentation, “We could not hold on to our chances. We missed a few run-outs, including myself. We were a little poor on the field. We gave so many chances in the field and we weren’t clinical. We were just not good enough. The last two games, we’ve been pretty good in the field. We need to keep our heads high and take a learning (sic) from this game.”
Asked if playing in the cold and windy conditions had been difficult, especially while fielding, Bhuvneshwar said, “It was very difficult. But we never talked about that. We knew that we would have to cope with those conditions and the cold. . . in Melbourne too.”

Bhuvneshwar reckoned somewhere near 140 would have been a par score. “We know it’s a difficult wicket to bat on. If you look at how the tournament has been going on till now (in Perth). . . 130-140 has been not par, but somewhere near there. We knew even 140 would give us a chance if we could get there. You could see the match going to the last over, the last bowler.”
India decided to bat first both at the SCG and here, in vastly different conditions. Both matches were the second of double headers, and perhaps provides an indication of how India are planning to approach the remainder of the World Cup. “It’s a beautiful strategy,” Bhuvneshwar said.
“If you’re playing in the sub-continent you generally try to chase. In Australia, things keep changing from ground to ground, city to city. We batted first because we knew chasing is not an easy task, especially in Perth.”
Lungi Ngidi may have a thing or two to say about that!