Had we taken our chances in the field it could have been different: Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Cricket News

PERTH: Senior Indian speedster Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not mince words when he categorically said that “things could have been different” if Aiden Markram’s catch had been taken or a few short runs in the team’s five-wicket defeat against South Africa on Sunday.
Virat Kohli dropped a pop from Markram at deep mid-wicket off Ravichandran Ashwin when the batsman was on 35.
“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 at the post-match conference.

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 down a target of 134 with two balls to spare.
Although he did not want to commit that the catch was when momentum shifted, but one could read between the lines that fielding on the day let the team down.
“Not really, the catches we dropped and the chances we missed wouldn’t say momentum changed, but it would have been different. But I wouldn’t pinpoint a specific moment as such,” said the seamer.

Tough course to bat on
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’s been a tough 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 believed that we can make a match of it.”
He defended captain Rohit Sharma’s decision to give Ashwin the 18th over (his fourth) after he went for 17 runs in the 14th over. The only other option Rohit had was Deepak Hooda.

“Generally the thinking is that if spinners could keep things tight, it would have been difficult for the batsmen in the end as they face the pacers. And if you keep a spinner at the end, then it becomes easier to bat. If we could have got a wicket it would have changed things,” he said.
Unlike India, where chasing is the order of the day in T20Is due to the dew factor, conditions in Australia change from one city to another.

“That’s the beauty of Australia. In India you try to race as you have. In Australia things change from city to city and here it was difficult to race, but it could be different in the next city we go to,” he added.
He didn’t want to give the extreme cold conditions as an excuse for not doing well.
“It was very difficult but we never talked about it because we knew we had to deal with those conditions. Even in Melbourne it was cold but we never talked about these things.”