Kohli loses his cool, snaps at scribes in post-match presser
‘SA series loss due to batting failure’
centurion — An irate India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday lost his cool and snapped at the scribes in a fiery media session after the series defeat against South Africa, his first reverse as full-time skipper.
When asked by the mediapersons about fielding the best possible playing XI and his team’s overseas record, Kohli was at his combative best. “What is the best 11?” snapped Kohli when asked if India played the best combination in “subcontinental” conditions at Centurion.
“If we had won this, was this the best 11? We don’t decide the 11 according to results. You are telling me that you could have played the best 11. You tell me the best 11
If we had won this, was this the best 11? We don’t decide the 11 according to results Virat Kohli
and we will play that,” the skipper went on. India played Rohit Sharma over Ajinkya Rahane in the two games and there were other surprising selection calls as well.
Kohli said he backs the XI that is picked to do the job. “I am saying the loss obviously hurts but you make one decision and you got to back it. We don’t sit here and say if you will fail in one game, you are not good enough to be at this level. Didn’t we lose in India when we had the best 11 there?
“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.”
Kohli was next asked about the trend of fielding different teams in all the Test matches under him and whether the team was losing because of too much chopping and changing. “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,” he countered.
India are ranked number one but post the loss, does Kohli believe they still are the best? “Look, we have to believe that we are the best side. Even when we came here, if you don’t have the belief that you can win the series here, there is no point coming here. We have not come here just to participate. And answering your question, how many times did South Africa come into the game in India?” he added. — PTI centurion — Batsmen let the team down, said India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday, conceding that his team has been just not good enough in the Test series against South Africa so far.
“We failed to get a good partnership and take lead. We have let ourselves down. The bowlers have done the job but the batsmen have let the team down,” Kohli said.
“We tried but we weren’t good enough, especially in the fielding department. That’s why they (South Africa) are the winner,” he added.
Kohli, who stroked a fighting 153 in India’s first innings, said his side erred in reading the Centurion wicket properly. “We thought the wicket was really flat. Quite surprising. I told the guys the wicket looks different to what it looked before toss. Especially after SA lost wickets in the first innings, we should have capitalised,” the Indian skipper said.
“I want to leave everything on the field. That’s the way I play. 150-odd runs (for himself) means nothing now that we have lost the series. If we had won, even a 30 would have mattered more. As a team, you want to win collectively.”
South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis said his side were pretty much on top of India in all the five days of the game.
“It took a lot of hard work over the last five days. We were on top pretty much most of the times,” he said. — PTI