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Regular-article-logo Saturday, 27 April 2024

No team is weak at home: Ravi Shastri

Ranked No. 1 in Tests since late 2016, India were perceived to do well in tours of South Africa and England this year

Our Bureau Calcutta Published 18.11.18, 11:00 PM
Ravi Shastri (left) with Virat Kohli

Ravi Shastri (left) with Virat Kohli Telegraph file picture

Head coach Ravi Shastri feels it’s unfair to pick on India when most of the teams fare poorly on away tours nowadays.

Ranked No. 1 in Tests since late 2016, India were perceived to do well in tours of South Africa and England this year. But they lost to both teams.

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Currently in Australia, Virat Kohli and his men are expected to be successful Down Under and set their poor overseas record straight, especially as the hosts appear a weakened lot and haven’t been performing well lately.

Addressing the media in Brisbane on Sunday, Shastri said: “You’ve got to learn from your mistakes. When you go overseas and when you look at teams that travel around now, there aren’t too many sides that travel well.

“Australia did for some time in the 90s and during the early 200s. South Africa did it for a while, but other than these two, in the last five-six years, tell me which team has travelled well. No other team has travelled well lately, so why pick on India?”

Asked whether captain Kohli or he has spoken to the team as to why they lost in South Africa and England, Shastri said that it was all about “seizing big moments.”

“We have spoken about seizing the big moments. If you look at the Test matches, the scoreline really doesn’t tell you the real story. There were some real tight Test matches and we lost some big moments badly, which cost us the series at the end of it.

“It could have been an hour in a session over four days whether it was in South Africa or England,” he said.

Shastri refused to believe that Australia have lost their aura with the current team not being strong enough. He added that India are “taking no prisoners” in their quest to win a Test series in Australia for the first time.

“I don’t think so. I think once you have a sporting culture in you, you will always have that. “I have always believed that no team is weak at home. We might have a situation when three or four players are not playing when a team comes to India. But if anyone thinks it’s a weak team, you will be surprised.

“Similarly, we will be taking no prisoners and we want to go out and put our best foot forward, focus on our game rather than focusing outside.”

Despite all the talking about the Aussies’ change in on-field behaviour since Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned due to the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town earlier this year, Shastri feels quality of cricket will decide the fate of the series.

Talking about Kohli, Shastri said: “Virat is a professional and has matured. You saw him here four years ago (in 2014-15) and he has played all round the globe since then and captained the side. And that alone comes with a tag of responsibility which has fit well on his shoulders.”

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