Sandeep Patil slams Virat Kohli's irresponsible comment; wants him to take a cue from former captains

Having lost the first two Test matches on the tour of England, Team India is facing criticism from all quarters. Former cricketers have pointed out the mistakes they’ve committed, the lack of preparation and the fact that they didn’t play enough practice matches before the Test series. Former chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil went a step further and said that the team is only enjoying coffee in English conditions.

To give Virat Kohli’s men enough time to acclimatize to the conditions in the country ahead of the Test series, the schedule was designed in such a way that they were there for almost a month before the Birmingham Test. However, they played just one warm-up match which was reduced from four days to three and the team got little practice. It was evident as most batsmen except Kohli in the first Test have had little clue on how to tackle the English pacers.

One particular statement that irked Patil the most is Kohli saying, “People have forgotten the Champions Trophy was also played in England. I was asked what I would when I landed there, and I said I wanted to walk around the streets with a cup of coffee. My thinking is very different,” the Indian skipper had tried to describe how there are a lot of things he is looking forward to and not just the cricket in the pre-tour press interaction.

Going to enjoy coffee

“We all clearly remember captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri‘s joint press conference before leaving for the tour of England earlier this summer. One bold statement stood out, “We have enough days to acclimatise in England and we are going to enjoy coffee,” Patil wrote in his column for The Quint.

“Seeing the performance of the Indian team in the first two Tests so far, the team really seems to have taken their skipper’s statement seriously – they are truly only enjoying the coffee in English conditions.”

None of the previous captains made irresponsible statements

He further mentioned that when they toured England, the focus was on how to improve their game, talked to the senior players, took their advice and worked harder. Patil thinks the focus of the current team is only on enjoying the coffee served in the country and the players are happy just doing that.

“In earlier days, it was grilled in our minds that we needed to watch, improve, practise hard, follow the senior players, learn from them and take their advice. But instead of taking the advice of players who have been on multiple tours of England, and have succeeded, Virat Kohli’s team seems happy to be enjoying the country’s coffee.

“In fact, if I look at the Indian captains who toured England, Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Azhar, none of them ever made such an irresponsible comment on the eve of such an important tour,” Patil wrote.

The Indian team is at the moment preparing for the third and decisive Test of the series that starts at Trent Bridge on August 18. The conditions in England have changed from what they were when the team landed here and thus they will have to rework their strategy as well as individual game plan.

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