India suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa in Perth.
Defending the modest total of 133, Indian bowlers had reduced the Proteas to 24/3 but the duo of Aiden Markram and David Miller put on 76 runs for the fourth wicket to take South Africa over the line with two deliveries to spare.
India’s fielding was not up to the mark as South African batters got quite a few reprieves. While Virat Kohli failed to take an easy catch of Markram, Rohit himself missed an easy run out of the same batter when the game was in the balance.
“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. We need to keep our heads high and take a learning from this game,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The captain also admitted that they were a few runs short with the bat.
“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 were better today.”
When South Africa needed 25 off the last three overs, Rohit gave the ball to Ashwin, who was smashed for 13 runs in the 18th over and the equation became easy for the Proteas.
Asked about the decision to bowl Ashwin instead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami, 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 will next face Bangladesh at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday (November 2).
(With Cricbuzz inputs)