India had several opportunities to dismiss Aiden Markram and David Miller, who went on to win the T20 World Cup game for South Africa. Bhuvneshwar Kumar says fielding errors cost them the match on Sunday.
Chasing 134, the Proteas had lost three early wickets and were reeling at 40/3 at the halfway mark, with Markram and Miller trying to steady the ship. The duo did a great job and added a decisive 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Markram was eventually dismissed for 52 whereas Miller remained unbeaten on 59 to see his side over the line. But their victory wasn’t without significant luck as several opportunities were spilled by Indian fielders.
Suryakumar Yadav couldn’t hit the stumps to run Markram out early in his innings while Rohit Sharma missed an even better opportunity later, with Miller nowhere near the crease.
However, the most notable error was by Virat Kohli when Markram was batting on 35. The South African tried to hit Ravi Ashwin out of the ground but the mistimed shot went straight to Kohli, who spilled it out. Kohli is amongst the best fielders in the side who generally takes much more difficult catches.
Speaking in the post-match media conference, India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar said the missed chances cost them big, and things could have been different if those were taken.
“If you take those catches, it’s a different thing. The catches we dropped, or the misses, I think that’s where, not the moment specifically, but we knew if we could have got those it changes things, things could have been different.
“But I don’t think there wasn’t any particular moment where we can say that things shifted towards their side,”
said Bhuvneshwar.
While the fielding took most of the blame, it was India’s batting which proved to be the biggest reason for their loss. Their top order collapsed against the pace and extra bounce on the Perth pitch, getting reduced to 49 for 5. Suryakumar Yadav made a sublime 68 off 40 to help them get a respectable total.
India now have four points from three games and need to win the remaining two versus Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, a task which shouldn’t be too hard for them.
“We’ve still got a massive game against Pakistan”: Markram
The South African batter was grateful for the luck he enjoyed during the victory that helped South Africa sit in a prime position to make it to the semifinals.
“Sometimes you get the rub of the green, sometimes you don’t. At the end of the day you have to be grateful when you do get a bit of luck in the game,”
said Markram.
The Proteas occupy the top spot in Group 2 and are placed well to top the group but they have to go through Pakistan and the Netherlands.
“We’re certainly not thinking with a foot in the door at the moment, we’ve still got a massive game against Pakistan. And we’ve got the Netherlands as well.
We’ve seen the teams that have joined the Super 12 stage can beat any team on their day. It’s pretty much about trying to get better game by game. We give ourselves the best chance to qualify if we do,”
he added.
