Indian captain Rohit Sharma admitted that they were poor in the field and gave so many chances to South Africa after they lost by five wickets at the Perth Stadium, Perth on Sunday. India could only post 133-9 after Rohit won the toss and decided to bat on a pitch, which was full of bounce and pace.
However, India had South Africa on the mat in the run-chase as the latter found themselves 40-3 after 10 overs. Suryakumar Yadav first missed a run-out chance against Aiden Markram. Subsequently, India’s best fielder Virat Kohli dropped a simple catch to give Markram another reprieve when he was on 35.
In the next over, Rohit Sharma missed another straightforward chance to run out Aiden Markram. Thus, India had their chances in the field to put more pressure on the Proteas but they were not able to grab them.
Furthermore, Rohit Sharma admitted that they fell a little short with the bat. It was a difficult pitch and the Indian batters found themselves at sea against the potent pace battery of the opposition.
The Men in Blue were 49-5 and it was always going to be a herculean task to get back into the game. Suryakumar Yadav played another masterclass knock of 68 runs from 40 balls.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “We expected that the pitch will have something in it. We knew that there’ll be a lot of help for the seamers, that’s why it wasn’t an easy target to chase. We fell a little short with the bat. We fought well, but South Africa was better today. When you see that score (40/3 in 10), you’ll always think you’re in the game. That was a match-winning partnership from Markram and Miller. We were a little poor in the field, we gave so many chances and we weren’t clinical. We were just not good enough. In the last two games, we were pretty good in the field. We couldn’t hold our chances, we missed a few run-outs. We need to keep our heads high and take learning from this game.”
On giving the 18th over to Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit said, “I’ve seen what happens with the spinners in the last over, so I wanted to go the other way. If I can finish Ash, I just wanted to make sure that the seamers are bowling the right overs. You have to use it at some point. With the new batter, it was the perfect time for him to bowl. Miller played some good shots as well.”
India was not up to the mark in the field and they had to pay the price. The Rohit Sharma-led will next face Bangladesh at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.
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