Centurion: The ongoing Test series between India and South Africa has been nothing short of drama as skipper Virat Kohli has, since the first Test itself has faced a lot of questions regarding the team selection. On Wednesday after his side went down by 135 runs to concede the series 2-0, Kohli lost his cool when confronted with questions regarding team selections once again, at the post-match press conference.
“What is the best 11?” questioned an irate Kohli, before adding, “If we had won this, was this the best 11? We don’t decide the 11 according to results. You are telling me that you could have played the best 11. You tell me the best 11 and we will play that.”
One of the most surprising selections has been that of Rohit Sharma, ahead of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and in the second game too, there were many questions raised on the playing XI. But the skipper hit back at all the critics, saying that he backed the players to perform well.
“I am saying the loss obviously hurts but you make one decision and you got to back it. We don’t sit here and say if you will fail in one game, you are not good enough to be at this level. Didn’t we lose in India when we had the best 11 there?,” said Kohli.
“Whoever is picked should be good enough to do the job for the team. That is why we have got such a big squad. They are good enough to be at this level but you need to do that collectively as a team. You can’t pinpoint and say which is the best 11. We have played with teams in the past which have looked really strong and lost.”
When asked about the trend of changing his team in every Test match he has captained so far, Kohli further counter-questioned asking, “How many Test matches have we won out of 34? How many have we won? How many have we won? 21 wins (20 actually). Two losses. How many draws? Does it matter? Wherever we play we try to do our best. I’m here to answer your questions, not to fight with you.”
India have all out of sorts in the Test series so far. In the first match, they were blown away by Vernon Philander and in the second, it was debutant Lungisani Ngidi, whose six-for sealed a thumping win for the hosts. However, despite losing two Tests in a row, India is still the number one ranked Test side and the Indian skipper feels that they are still the best.
“Look, we have to believe that we are the best side. Even when we came here, if you don’t have the belief that you can win the series here, there is no point coming here.
“We have not come here just to participate. And answering your question, how many times did South Africa come into the game in India?,” added Kohli.