Bhuvneshwar Kumar says India could have restricted South Africa to smaller total

Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked 4/87 as India bowled South Africa out for 286 on Day 1 of the 1st Test in Cape Town.

India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar admitted they might have conceded at least 30 runs extra to South Africa on the first day of the first Test here on Friday. South Africa were dismissed for 286 after being 221/7 at one point of time. (SA v IND 1st Test Day 1 HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD)

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was not entirely pleased despite his figures of 4/87 on Day 1 of the 1st Test in Cape Town. (AFP)

“If we want to be hard on ourselves, then yes we did give away a few too many runs to South Africa. I think they scored 25-30 odd extra runs. In every hour of play, there were 2-3 overs where we gave them easy boundaries. That is an area we can improve on,” he said.

South Africa continued to lose wickets at regular intervals but their run rate kept hovering around four. Kumar said it was worrying. “During the breaks also we were talking about bringing the run-rate down because in Test cricket four runs per over is a lot. This is something we want to improve in the next innings, but overall we are happy with the lines and lengths we bowled,” he added.

Had it not been for Shikhar Dhawan, Kumar could have had a fifer but the seamer said he wasn’t annoyed at his teammate. “No, I am not disappointed at not taking a five-wicket haul. This is part of the game and there will be other opportunities to take five wicket hauls. Catches do win you matches and we want to improve this area,” he said.

“The slip cordon has held some great catches in the past, so they will miss one or two. We do not go to bowl thinking they will not hold catches. We trust the slip cordon to hold their catches,” he said.

Kumar said India were not surprised at South Africa’s decision to bat. “We had a feeling that they would opt to bat first. We wanted to bowl first after winning the toss, so it was fine with us. They were good conditions to bowl first. We were able to use those conditions to get first three wickets in five overs,” Kumar said.

India pacers could pat themselves on the back for a job well done. Kumar said AB de Villiers’ counterattack almost threatened to take the game away from them. “He is the best in the world and you have to be at your best to bowl to him. He was counterattacking and took the game from us. He didn’t take it completely but he took the session away from us. It would have been good if we had got him out early,” he said.