Poor fielding responsible for our defeat: Kumble

Poor fielding responsible for our defeat: Kumble
Bangalore | Friday, Oct 9 2009 IST

After losing the opener of the Champions League T20 tournament to Cape Cobras by five wickets here, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Anil Kumble has blamed his team's poor fielding for the defeat. ''When you have 180 on scoreboard, it's always disappointing to lose,'' Kumble said after the match. ''We dropped number of catches that might be one of the reason, but there are other things to be looked after.'' Kumble heaped praise on JP Duminy, who scored an unbeaten 99 to see the Cobras through in the opening clash.

''JP Duminy batted really brilliantly,'' Kumble said.

''The bowl was coming lot quicker on this pitch. We thought that the pitch may play slower and it will spin later, but Duminy put up a great fight,'' he added.

When asked why he did not hand over the ball to experienced all-rounder Jacques Kallis in the crucial last over with the Cobras needing nine for victory, the leg-spinner said, ''I thought slower ball will work and that's why I gave the task to Vinay, but it didn't work.'' Meanwhile, Cape Cobras skipper Andrew Puttick said he was ''confident'' of chasing down the target.

''We were confident of chasing the target. We should have restricted them much earlier. We had a bad start, but Duminy was superb with the bat. If you get one batsman to play throughout the innings, then you can chase any target,'' he said.

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