SL_Fan
Senior ODI Player
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2012
- Runs
- 22,652
- Post of the Week
- 1
Cricket was almost an afterthought during Virat Kohli’s anything-but-routine pre-match press conference on Wednesday (March 15). The Indian captain must have come prepared for the line of questioning, but even he was so shocked that the focus was so far away from the game itself that when someone sought to know what were the technical adjustments the half-century making Indian trio had made in the second innings in Bangalore, he actually started with, “Thank you for asking about cricket, finally.”
Truth to tell, there were a few discussions cricketing, but so persistent were the questions over Reviewgate that you almost came away from the 14-minute pow-wow thinking, “Cricket? What cricket?”
The last week has been cricket-free for both India and Australia, with the Bangalore Test having ended a day earlier to give the India boys an extra day at home to recharge batteries going in to the third Test of the series, the first ever at the JSCA International Stadium. “Obviously, when you win, you enjoy the break,” Kohli smiled. “When the result doesn’t go your way, you think it (the break) could have been shorter and all those sorts of things. It is very important to take all off days just normally, if you are part of a series or not. It is important to treat every day as a normal day. Coming towards the end of the season, a couple of more days off after a good result obviously feels nice for the guys to recover and recoup. It has been a very long season for us and last two games to go, which we want to finish on a positive note. The break was timely for us as a side because we played for so long. We played non-stop. I am sure everyone enjoyed the break and am sure the focus is back on this match and the next match.”
This has been a series for the bowlers, with no side having touched 300 yet. India have twice been bowled out for less than 110, and Australia barely crossed that number in the second innings in Bangalore. But were the pitches actually that bad, notwithstanding the ‘poor’ for Pune and the ‘below average’ for Bangalore that Chris Broad mentioned in his ratings column? “I wouldn’t say so much on the pitches. Australia batted really well in Pune, we didn’t bat so well,” Kohli pointed out. “Again in Bangalore, in the second innings we batted better than them. Even on a flat wicket, if you are under pressure, you tend to have collapses. We have seen it so many times in the past, on perfectly normal wickets, sides have been bundled out for 60-70 from pressure from the opposition.
“Test cricket is more mental than looking at all the external factors. And teams who are mentally strong – on that sort of a wicket, as I have mentioned before, (Cheteshwar) Pujara and Ajinkya’s (Rahane) partnership was outstanding because it wasn’t easy to bat. But at the same time, they showed their mental strength and what they can do as individuals. It takes a special effort like that to provide the difference in the game. But most of the batting collapses are more mental than skill coming into fault. That’s what I make of it, it wasn’t much to do with the pitches because the other team obviously batted better on both those occasions, so it is more a mental setup.”
Pujara and Rahane were of course two of the three second-innings half-centurions in Bangalore. The other was KL Rahul, who actually ended the game with a fifty in each innings. Kohli spoke of the little changes that the first two batsmen made while putting on the only century association in this series to date. “The adjustments that guys make in their techniques… I saw Pujara opening up his stance, which was an apt adjustment for him to give himself more space to play the ball. Ajinkya, again, getting inside the line of the ball and not playing through the covers. Those are the small adjustments. KL is batting well anyway but I think those two guys stepped up their game and found a way to score runs on a difficult wicket. That was the difference between winning a game and probably not winning it because there could have been only two results, the draw wasn’t there on the cards anyway. Such minor things can make massive differences in the game. We saw that and credit to those two guys to get runs on that sort of wicket.”
Kohli said he neither craved attention, nor did he go out of the way to either seek it or avoid it. “It doesn’t matter to me, honestly, because I don’t start a series saying focus on me, speak about me or write about me,” he said when asked if he fed off being constantly in the news. “It’s not in my control. What’s in my control is what happens on the field. If people choose to write about me or speak about me, that’s their choice. I won’t sit here telling someone to speak or write about me unless they want to, or it interests them. Whether it is criticism or praise, it’s all happened in the past as well. Honestly, these things are totally detached from me. It doesn’t matter who writes what about me or they praise me or they criticise me. It is fine for me. It’s their job, they are doing their job and I am doing mine, as simple as that.”
Link
Truth to tell, there were a few discussions cricketing, but so persistent were the questions over Reviewgate that you almost came away from the 14-minute pow-wow thinking, “Cricket? What cricket?”
The last week has been cricket-free for both India and Australia, with the Bangalore Test having ended a day earlier to give the India boys an extra day at home to recharge batteries going in to the third Test of the series, the first ever at the JSCA International Stadium. “Obviously, when you win, you enjoy the break,” Kohli smiled. “When the result doesn’t go your way, you think it (the break) could have been shorter and all those sorts of things. It is very important to take all off days just normally, if you are part of a series or not. It is important to treat every day as a normal day. Coming towards the end of the season, a couple of more days off after a good result obviously feels nice for the guys to recover and recoup. It has been a very long season for us and last two games to go, which we want to finish on a positive note. The break was timely for us as a side because we played for so long. We played non-stop. I am sure everyone enjoyed the break and am sure the focus is back on this match and the next match.”
This has been a series for the bowlers, with no side having touched 300 yet. India have twice been bowled out for less than 110, and Australia barely crossed that number in the second innings in Bangalore. But were the pitches actually that bad, notwithstanding the ‘poor’ for Pune and the ‘below average’ for Bangalore that Chris Broad mentioned in his ratings column? “I wouldn’t say so much on the pitches. Australia batted really well in Pune, we didn’t bat so well,” Kohli pointed out. “Again in Bangalore, in the second innings we batted better than them. Even on a flat wicket, if you are under pressure, you tend to have collapses. We have seen it so many times in the past, on perfectly normal wickets, sides have been bundled out for 60-70 from pressure from the opposition.
“Test cricket is more mental than looking at all the external factors. And teams who are mentally strong – on that sort of a wicket, as I have mentioned before, (Cheteshwar) Pujara and Ajinkya’s (Rahane) partnership was outstanding because it wasn’t easy to bat. But at the same time, they showed their mental strength and what they can do as individuals. It takes a special effort like that to provide the difference in the game. But most of the batting collapses are more mental than skill coming into fault. That’s what I make of it, it wasn’t much to do with the pitches because the other team obviously batted better on both those occasions, so it is more a mental setup.”
Pujara and Rahane were of course two of the three second-innings half-centurions in Bangalore. The other was KL Rahul, who actually ended the game with a fifty in each innings. Kohli spoke of the little changes that the first two batsmen made while putting on the only century association in this series to date. “The adjustments that guys make in their techniques… I saw Pujara opening up his stance, which was an apt adjustment for him to give himself more space to play the ball. Ajinkya, again, getting inside the line of the ball and not playing through the covers. Those are the small adjustments. KL is batting well anyway but I think those two guys stepped up their game and found a way to score runs on a difficult wicket. That was the difference between winning a game and probably not winning it because there could have been only two results, the draw wasn’t there on the cards anyway. Such minor things can make massive differences in the game. We saw that and credit to those two guys to get runs on that sort of wicket.”
Kohli said he neither craved attention, nor did he go out of the way to either seek it or avoid it. “It doesn’t matter to me, honestly, because I don’t start a series saying focus on me, speak about me or write about me,” he said when asked if he fed off being constantly in the news. “It’s not in my control. What’s in my control is what happens on the field. If people choose to write about me or speak about me, that’s their choice. I won’t sit here telling someone to speak or write about me unless they want to, or it interests them. Whether it is criticism or praise, it’s all happened in the past as well. Honestly, these things are totally detached from me. It doesn’t matter who writes what about me or they praise me or they criticise me. It is fine for me. It’s their job, they are doing their job and I am doing mine, as simple as that.”
Link
