[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by Oxy

And now the dude loses his marbles.

Originally Posted by Eddy

It's a short video so there may be further context to it but this is a ridiculous answer by Kohli. Totally unwarranted.

.

How is that a ridiculous answer? It befits the question being asked, and may I say was a stupid question. Why are we trying to find faults everywhere with this guy?

Did the journo has any answer to the retort by Kohli? I mean we all do remember when SA was blanked and fairly badly. Remember when this is when most of their players play a lot in India.

Knowing Kohli you really don't expect to take something like that quietly would you? I frankly loved it

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

How is that a ridiculous answer?

It's a ridiculous answer because SA are the only team in the world who have whitewashed India in India. Yes you read that right, it happened in the year 2000. And their overall record is pretty good in India, way better than what ours is in SA.

When was the last time we won a test series against a decent opposition outside the subcontinent? WI and SL are borderline minnows so they don't count. It was in 2007 IIRC in England, that too after we clinged onto a 1-0 lead by the skin of our teeth with some rain helping us saving a test. And before that an away win came under Kapil Dev in 1986.

Should we not be embarrassed of this shameful record? The rankings say we are number 1 but I fail to see how exactly when everytime we step outside the subcontinent we get smashed. It happened in 2011, then repeated in 2014 and now in 2018. Rinse and repeat everytime. What is this so called richest board doing about it? Is hiring yes men for the job going to change our fortunes? Why was Kumble booted out? Why is Kohli being allowed to make us a laughing stock with his stupid decisions?

/Rant

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Should we not be embarrassed of this shameful record?

How does it matter if the cricketers and to a lesser extent their Indian fans that just want IPL - witness the empty grounds for test matches in India - are not in the least bit embarrassed?

I expect us to lose heavily in England and in Australia and nothing to change on the administrative side except Shastri perhaps getting the boot. We always have been cardboard Tarzans overseas and always will be. Megabucks can still be made from gullible local fans, so where is the incentive to change?

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by Oxy

It's a ridiculous answer because SA are the only team in the world who have whitewashed India in India. Yes you read that right, it happened in the year 2000.

You had to go 2 decades back to pull that one out? I remember that series, we had a shitty team and the selection was even more worse. Remember Jadeja at 6 probably. And how is this even relevant now? I just fail to even register a connection with the present system.

Originally Posted by Oxy

When was the last time we won a test series against a decent opposition outside the subcontinent?
/Rant

When did anyone win series outside of their homes/similar conditions? Every half decent team typically wins at home. If they lose, it's an upset and really an exception rather than the rule.

Still, this team that should have done better. But unless we put some value on the series except fulfilling obligations, then we aren't ever going to get favorable results. Not playing practice games and atleast a couple of good ones. The selections are another thing. I am disappointed, probably angry as well, but did I not expect this? I won't say so. I honestly didn't think our batting as a team would not even stand up when mattered.

To have the system that promotes hitting through the line and expecting a result in conditions such as these, you got to be dreaming with your eyes open. Yes, we will have the odd win, courtesy the other team screwing up, but when they are as good as this current SA team, they usually don't.

And yeah, still love Kohli's retort, he does not have to take things lying down.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by Oxy

It's a ridiculous answer

Originally Posted by pratyush6

And yeah, still love Kohli's retort, he does not have to take things lying down.

The journo was asking Kohli about his constant chopping and changing of the team. There was a stat shown up on air during the match that Kohli has never had the same playing 11 in more than one match as captain. The journo was suggesting that this inconsistent selection policy was turning out bad for Kohli, to which I think Kohli's reply was quite justified- "So how many have I won out of those?"

[NPV]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

An ideal team would be a Pakistan bowling strength and Indian batting strength; not the other way around

I'm not sure if this is really a fact from a statistics perspective, but my perception is that it is most often than not our batting that has miserably failed on overseas tours (cause for most of our defeats abroad). This is true of our batting lineups & teams from the 70's I think (when the first real resurgence in our batting began with few overseas victories). Our batting has mostly been very strong on paper and still the batsmen have failed on overseas pitches and performed extremely well on home soil (there are some players who are exceptions though).

[prateekm]

As per today's Deccan Herald, India has opted for a three-day break from practice and will resume it on 21st. The next test starts on 24th.

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

When did anyone win series outside of their homes/similar conditions? Every half decent team typically wins at home.

England trounced us at home in 2012. Australia and SA have been regularly beating each other away. Even teams like WI, NZ, SA have won a test in a place like UAE.

I am not saying we should have rolled them over, but is it too much to expect a team which prides itself for it's batting, to apply themselves and chase down 200 odd targets?

The Centurion defeat hurt more because you cannot even blame the pitch (yes Cape Town swung but we should still have chased down 200 there). It was a very Indian pitch. Yes the odd ball kept low but it was still good for batting.

[Eddy]

Got this link from a friend. A very interesting read.

https://www.telegraphindia.com/opini...stponed-201775

[Sawyer]

Usually, Mukul Kesavan writes sensible articles. This one reads like complete nonsense to me.

[RedDevil_KP]

People who follow Football across the world would know how a journalist heckles a manager with questions not related to the weekends game. You've had incidents were the answers have crossed the line or taken personally, but more often than not such questions have been politely ignored or diverted. The press will be ready to pin you down when your answers are vague. Regardless of being the best batsmen around, it's high time King Kohli has to up his skills on handling the media and pipe down a bit in public eye. Although the answer given by him was an appropriate one, but could have been delivered in a more sarcastic/polite way.

Coming to test cricket, let's be honest that it's on a ventilator from the day T20 was introduced. Everyone works for money but T20 is a quicker way to earn plenty,around the globe. Some of the viewers are also bored of the game, when it takes over 3 days to know what the result is. Our IPL & T20 leagues around the world have been excellent to those players who don't even get a chance to represent their states and can only dream about their national team. Apart from that IPL is only about that famous song from ABBA - MONEY, MONEY MONEY .

Although this generation of cricketers play lot more cricket in all different formats, they aren't skilled enough as their IDOLS. I bet everyone will have a Sachin, Waugh, Dravid, Lara, Kallis in their teams than a Kohli, Kane, Smith or Root.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Usually, Mukul Kesavan writes sensible articles. This one reads like complete nonsense to me.

Hmmm, different strokes then. I quite enjoyed the article.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Hmmm, different strokes then. I quite enjoyed the article.

I did too. Seems he had a few of the best Scotland has to offer, before/while writing that article

[Eddy]

Pleasantly surprised to see Shaw not opening in the chase against Zimbabwe and giving others a hit in the middle. Good mature decision by the U19 skipper, though Dravid would have been the driver for this I guess.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Hmmm, different strokes then. I quite enjoyed the article.

You said it mate!

And the reason why someone wouldn't get the article (or get why Kohli's answer to the media was ridiculous) is also in the article itself:

"The angry incomprehension that Sharma provokes is like the reaction of a reader of airport novels to challenging literary fiction. "



And I really don't know where the media got the idea that this team represented 'the best chance we had of winning in SA'. I heard it everywhere in the build up to the series. Based on what/which player's track record? And mind you, this is BEFORE the wise men decided not to play Rahane and Rahul. After that brilliant decision the label made even less sense.

So "no other team wins away from home" (that's not true btw), means we're excused from that expectation as well? Interesting. Let's just keep playing SL at home then shall we.

And why Rohit keeps getting chances even in conditions that don't suit his game at all is really not such a mystery. He's a very hot IPL and advertiser asset and as such needs to be kept in the limelight as much as they can realistically get away with!

I'm sorry for the all rants, even though I told myself I would not get emotionally invested in this game, I couldn't help it. Our bowlers bowled beautifully. To come down so bad after that...and not even have the grace to accept defeat sportingly...I guess I'm too old and used to gentlemen cricketers like Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble.