Shastri questions past greats in defence of team
LONDON: India coach Ravi Shastri has rejected criticism of the current team’s failings in the last two Test series in South Africa and England, instead claiming that the previous teams with stalwarts had done less over the last two decades.
“Nothing to take away (from England), the endeavour of this team is to travel well, compete and win. If you look at the last three years, we have won nine matches overseas and three series,” he said in a media interaction on Wednesday after India’s credentials as No 1 had been questioned.
“I can’t see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years that has had the same run in such a short time, and you have had some great players playing in those series.”
Virat Kohli’s team has faced criticism after losing the fourth Test within four days to concede the series 1-3 with the final Test at The Oval starting on Friday becoming relevant only as Alastair Cook’s farewell and a chance for the visitors to get a win to narrow the series margin to 2-3.
India lost their last two series in England — 0-4 in 2011 when Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman played towards the end of their careers, and 1-3 in 2014 when the batting hopes rested on Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.
The nine Test wins Shastri referred to came in Sri Lanka (two in 2015 and three in 2017), South Africa (one in 2018), West Indies (two in 2016) and England (at Trent Bridge).
India’s last overseas series win against a major Test playing nation came in 2007, a 1-0 effort under Dravid’s captaincy in England. Though they have never won a series in Australia or South Africa, they managed to draw a series each in the two countries in the noughties.
‘WILL FIGHT ON’
Shastri criticised poor shot selection and lack of match awareness for the Southampton defeat, but said India will fight on.
“In shot selection, (it) left a lot to be desired; we blew a very good position straightaway after tea on day two,” he said. “That’s an area where you can tighten, be aware of what the team needs, being aware of the match situation, that will be a big help.”
He felt India need to tighten up mentally more than in terms of technique. “You’ve got to get tough mentally. We’ve run teams close overseas and we have competed. But now it’s not about competing, we have to win games from here. The endeavour is to understand where you made the mistakes and take it head on and try to correct them.
“The scoreline says 3-1, which means India have lost the series. What it doesn’t say is India could have been 3-1 or it could have been 2-2. And my team knows it. They would have (been) hurt and rightly so after the last game.
“But this is a team that will not throw in the towel. It will come out there and look to compete and not be on the first flight home. Rest assured, and that’s exactly what we will do.”
He backed Hardik Pandya against criticism that he has not been consistent enough to be called a Test all-rounder and said India would be flexible about team composition — fielding five bowlers again or a sixth batsman.