“How many Test matches have we won out of 34? How many have we won? How many have we won? 21 wins (20 actually). Two losses. How many draws? Does it matter? Wherever we play we try to do our best. I’m here to answer your questions, not to fight with you,” Kohli countered when asked about the performance home and away.
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I remember a former cricketer-turned-commentator saying that he was attending a class where he was taught, “never ever write on the basis of results.” The same is what Kohli was trying to say as well. He said that had the team won we would have been happy and considered the playing XI to be the best, exactly what happened with Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Nobody talked much about Bhuvi’s exclusion because the bowlers did well in the game but they questioned the absence of Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan.
About the team selection Kohli said, “Whoever is picked should be good enough to do the job for the team. That is why we have got such a big squad. They are good enough to be at this level but you need to do that collectively as a team. You can’t pinpoint and say which is the best 11. We have played with teams in the past which have looked really strong and lost.”
First thing first
- Ajinkya Rahane is a great batsman and he deserves a place in the playing XI at least away from home, irrespective of whether we lose or win without him.
- KL Rahul doesn’t look as good as he looked in previous series. It may be because of insecurities regarding his place.
- I personally feel that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is no more just the ‘track’ bowler. He can bowl well on any given conditions.
But then it was a game where one batsman could have won it and those who played need to own up. Kohli was as unhappy as he was ‘angry’ at reporters. So were the fans. We expected the 25-year-old jinx to break this time but so did the players.
Kohli said that ‘those soft dismissals hurt’. They obviously hurt. Had Pujara not been run out in either of the innings, it would have been a different case. He loves scoring and this probably was a track he enjoyed.
Then it was Hardik Pandya’s run out in the first innings which could have very well be a game changer, given how well he was coordinating with his skipper on the field.
So, blaming everything just on the team selection doesn’t help. But at the same time Kohli– who set up an example by rejecting a deal worth crore for a soft drink– needs to remember that he is seriously followed by youngsters as a role model so he too needs to control his frustration.
Let’s change and make it a culture where we stand up for our team whether they win or lose, just like freaking fans of football.
Let the team selection be talked only during the duration between toss and start of the innings.