Angry Virat Kohli asks media ‘what’s the best XI’
CENTURION: India captain Virat Kohli was upset after the 135-run loss but refused to accept they had not gone in with the best XI here. Asked to chase 287, India couldn’t even make it past the first session after a series of irresponsible shots but Kohli still felt India had selected the right players to win this series.
“What’s the best XI?” countered Kohli in response to a query whether India had fielded the best team at Centurion. “Was it your best XI?” he was asked again. “But if we had won this, was this the best XI?” Kohli retorted.
“I’m saying we don’t decide the XI according to the results. The loss obviously hurts. But you make one decision and you back it. We certainly don’t sit here and say, ‘oh if you fail in one game you are not good enough to be at this level or...’. Didn’t we lose in India? We had the best XI there,” retorted Kohli, almost leading to a verbal standoff at the press conference after India’s defeat.
“Whoever plays should be good enough to do the job. That’s why we’ve got such a big squad. Because we believe in their abilities and 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 this is the best XI. We played with teams before that have looked really strong and have lost as well.”
Kohli admitted India should have applied themselves better on a pitch considered more Indian than South African. “Teams have beaten us also at home at times but these conditions are something that we are used to playing on and we should have certainly done better. Having said that it’s about which team plays collectively better and as I mentioned quite a few times already that South Africa collectively were a much better team than us regardless of pitches we played on. They showed more character than us,” he said.
India’s miserable overseas record continues after losing this series 2-0 and Kohli put this down to the team’s inability to play together.
“Look, everyone wants to perform. I don’t know whether people think about those things too early or because when we came here last time we batted well. This time around we haven’t batted well as a unit. We bowled well, we didn’t bowl as well last time. But what’s annoying is that it hasn’t come together which obviously South Africa have done and that’s how you win Test matches. That’s the most hurtful thing -- both skills are not coming together at the right time, including fielding. They were far superior than us in the field.”
When asked about the constant chopping and changing, Kohli asked the reporter: “How many Tests have we won out of the 31? 21 wins. Two losses.” When the reporter asked how many of them were won in India, Virat said: “It doesn’t matter. Wherever we play we try to do our best. I’m here to answer your questions, not to fight with you.
“We have to believe we are the best side. If we don’t, there is no point in coming here,” he said.