Can’t produce bowlers playing on 500-run pitches, says Virat Kohli

Nagpur: India skipper Virat Kohli on Friday clarified that there is no “policy” of preparing spinning tracks but playing on placid batting wickets will never produce match-winning bowlers.

“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,” Kohli was categorical in his reply at the post-match press conference.

In fact he could not hide his sarcasm at the double standards at those who were sceptical about India not playing enough on spinner-friendly wickets after they lost to Sri Lanka at Galle.

“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,” the hint of sarcasm was evident in his

voice.

He also took a dig at former players from other countries (without taking names) as to how they are being critical about a pitch sitting thousand miles away. “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,” a livid Kohli said at the post match media conference.

Kohli said that Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis today showed 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. Today was a classic example of two guys (South Africa captain Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis) applying themselves and showing that it can be done,” Kohli pointed out to his detractors. Just like his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin had said that Indian players never complained about the pitches that they got overseas, the skipper also decided to speak in the same vein.

“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 was point blank in his response.