‘This team will not throw in the towel’

LONDON: Ravi Shastri criticised poor shot selection and lack of match awareness for the defeat at Southampton, but said that India will fight against England in the final Test at The Oval.

“In shot selection, (it) left a lot to be desired; we blew a very good position straightaway after tea on day two,” the India coach 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.”

Shastri brushed aside criticism that Virat Kohli’s team is not living up to overseas challenges, after the 1-2 loss in South Africa. Kohli had said the team must learn to ‘cross the line’.

“You’ve got to get tough mentally,” he said. “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 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.”

Shastri took a dig at past players over criticism. “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. I can’t see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years that has had the same run.”