CENTURION: There were plenty of questions that still remained unanswered about the team’s combination in the two Tests that India have lost so far in South Africa.But captain Virat Kohli found fault in the team’s lack of application, especially in Centurion, where conditions were a lot similar to home. Speaking after the match, Kohli said that the manner of the defeats were unacceptable, and also blamed the top-order batsmen.
The captain, the only one to score a hundred in this series, bluntly pointed out their soft-dismissals across both innings. “You can accept defeat, but not the way we let the advantage slip. That is not acceptable. So many soft dismissals in one match hurt a lot. You work so hard, get into good situations, shift the game towards you, and then the momentum shifts because of these mistakes. That feels very bad as a team. Individuals have to sit and reflect on these things themselves. They do it. I am not saying they don’t reflect on it, but we have repeated these mistakes in both matches. As a team, it is not acceptable.”
Building the side’s confidence by playing mostly on slow conditions in home, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean in the last two years, the old habits which saw India suffer series losses everywhere else came into focus again.Despite their bowlers putting up a good effort, their batting failed to bear any resemblance to what they were doing during their heydays.
Kohli, who called for his team to show intent before the Test, saw batsmen throw away starts and fielders drop catches at crucial junctures, as India played catch-up from the moment they lost the toss in SuperSport Park.“We have not come here to play the way we have done. That is something that we need to definitely speak about. We need to be hard on ourselves. We need to ask ourselves if we are giving 120 per cent for the team.
As a team, we are going to lay out these things in the open. We will ask the guys to be honest about what they were feeling at particular stages in the game. The mistakes we made have been about not paying attention to detail at important stages of the game. It is something we definitely need to sit down and discuss.”
Though he was spot on with his assessment of batting failures and fielding lapses, Kohli was not so forthcoming when it came to the choice of playing XI. Having been given the freedom by the support staff to decide the best combination, the skipper too needs to reflect on the choices he has made.
To give the captain full authority might not be a bad idea, but despite having a strong think-tank, some of the overlooked areas need introspection. “We will have to sit down and discuss those things. It doesn’t feel nice that you come out, feel good as a team and are not able to execute what you want to. It almost has to be a madness to be able to win away from home. And you have to live that every minute, every day on tour. It is a very individual thing but we need to discuss this as a team. I can’t speak on behalf of selectors. Obviously, they will come into the conversation while planning for future tours.”
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com