India captain Rohit Sharma didn’t mince words while pointing out mistakes committed by their fielders during the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup Match 30 against South Africa in Perth. Although they wouldn’t have guaranteed a victory, India would’ve been in a much better position to defend a low total had they held on to their chances.
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As a matter of fact, India would’ve been in an even better position had their batters not put on display a collapse against the new ball swinging at an express pace under conditions which mostly aid pacers.
Acknowledging the same as well, Sharma admitted that they fell a “little short” in the first innings after he opted to bat first at the toss. Having scored just 133/9 in their 20-over quota, India were required to defend their lowest T20I innings total to win this match.
Although fast bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami provided India with three wickets in the powerplay, individual half-centuries by batters David Miller (59*) and Aiden Markram (52) stood in between India and a victory tonight. Miller, who hit four fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 128.26, hit two consecutive sixes off India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the 18th over to all but seal the chase.
Rohit Sharma blames fielders for missing catching and run out chances in tense chase vs South Africa
It was on the penultimate delivery of the 12th over when former India captain Virat Kohli dropped a sitter at deep mid-wicket to hand a massive reprieve to Markram when he was batting at 35. With the right-handed batter hitting a short Ashwin delivery straight to deep mid-wicket, Kohli made a mess of an opportunity to stun one and all including himself.
Other than six fours and a six, Markram’s ninth T20I half-century also comprised of a charmed life as Sharma missed a simple run-out to dismiss him exactly an over after Kohli’s drop catch.
“We were a little poor in the field. we gave so many chances and we weren’t clinical. We were just not good enough. The last two games, we were pretty good in the field. We couldn’t hold our chances, we missed a few run-outs [including myself],” Sharma told the broadcaster during the post-match presentation ceremony while refraining from using the chilly weather as an excuse for substandard fielding effort.
