Virat Kohli had clarified that there is no “policy” of preparing, spinning tracks, but playing on placid batting wickets will never produce match-winning bowlers.
Speaking on the issue, Kohli said, “It is not a policy. It is the conditions that we get in India. Otherwise playing Test matches and making 500 runs…..you don’t create bowlers like that and win Tests matches. They key is to win Test matches as I have said this before. Wherever you go in the world, you should be prepared to face those conditions and tune your game accordingly.”
Frankly speaking, after India lost to Srilanka at Galle, Kohli could not hide his sarcasm at the double standards at those who were skeptical about India not playing enough on spinner-friendly wickets.
Hinting the sarcasm at his voice, Kohli said, “I saw some time back when we collapsed in Galle (Sri Lanka) someone said that we have improved our fast bowling play, but we don’t know how to play spinners and now when we are playing in spin-friendly conditions this is a problem as well. I don’t know where we find a balance.”
Not stopping there, Kohli even criticized the other countries former players, about their pitch sitting.
“I don’t know why there is so much hype about this issue. A lot of people are writing a lot of things about the pitch, that it should not be like this, or it’s turning too much. (There are) people sitting in other countries and speaking about pitches in India,” Kohli said.
“Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis proved that, if there was application, then one could even survive on this strip. It is just a matter of mindset. People are giving their opinion and they are free to do so. But we don’t feel that way,” Kohli said.
Ravichandran Ashwin recently said that, the Indian players never complained about the pitches they got overseas. Following his teammate’s statement, even Kohli gave the similar statements.
“We have never complained when we had challenging conditions and we won’t complain in future either. We try to improve our game. It is always just the matter of us not having the technique or mental strength to cope with conditions away from home. When these sorts of things happen, everyone talks about undue home advantage.”
“People can talk about it or can choose not to talk about it. The fact is that we have won the series. We won two Test matches. We have sealed the series and we are happy about it,” Kohli strictly said.
By Phani Ch