Karthik blames dropped chances for T20 loss against Windies

Kingston, July 10 : India’s top-scorer Dinesh Karthik rued the dropped catches that proved decisive in his team’s nine-wicket loss to the West Indies in a one-off Twenty20 match, acknowledging a chance that he himself spilt.
In the sixth over, Lewis went for a lofted straight drive off Bhuvneshwar Kumar but a mix-up between skipper Virat Kohli and Mohammad Shami saw the opportunity go waste.
Four balls later, Lewis gave another chance when he heaved at a Kuldeep Yadav delivery but got a reprieve when an onrushing Karthik, at long-off, couldn’t get into the position.
“If mis-hits go for sixes then you know it is his day but he gave us two chances, we couldn’t hold on to them. Those were costly opportunities and in T20 games every opportunity would cost you a lot. We could see the result went their way mostly because of dropped chances,” Karthik said at the post- match press conference.
Explaining why he couldn’t hold on to the catch, Karthik said: “I am pretty confident of taking high catches in fielding. It is just that I came running in and the breeze took it away slightly more than I thought and from the corner of my eyes I saw Virat running in as well.
“I didn’t want to bump into him and that took a fraction of second for me which made me run more than I should and that kind of didn’t get me in good position and that’s is the reason I dropped the catch,” he said. India posted 190-6 on a belter but opener Lewis slammed an unbeaten 125 off 62 balls to take West Indies home in just 18.3 overs.Karthik, who top-scored for his team with a 29-ball 48, said 190 was a good score but it was not India’s day as Lewis seemed unstoppable.