India were over-confident but not prepared for South Africa series and it showed

Before the beginning of the tough tour of South Africa, Indian captain Virat Kohli had said that his team had nothing to prove to anyone. The head coach, Ravi Shastri, said that his partnership with Kohli focuses only on wins and they do not engage in any “time pass”.

On January 17, as India were humbled in yet another Test by a spirited South Africa and the Kohli-Shastri duo tasted their first series loss, the hot words looked hollow. Even more silly was Kohli’s post-match disappointment directed against the media in a conference. “I have come here to answer your questions, not fight with you” was Kohli’s response to the media which was mostly concerned with the teams that were selected for the first two Tests played in the series.

Media is not going to pick the right XI, dear Kohli

“You tell me the best XI and we will play that,” Kohli told another journalist. Now, here precisely lies the problem. It is clear from the captain’s statements that the Indian team management had little clue about the right team to pick for the two Tests and the media was never going to do that job for Kohli and Shastri.

The puzzle of finding the right combination could have been found only if India had played an adequate number of practice games in South Africa before taking stance in the actual battle. In fact, India were scheduled to play a practice game against the South Africa Board President’s XI but decided to cancel it and chose to practice with their own set of bowlers. This had left former greats like Sunil Gavaskar awestruck but one feels it was the over-confidence, if not arrogance, which had paved the way for the ship to sink eventually.

Recently Test victories were mostly at home

Kohli also cited the number of Tests India have won in the recent past while countering the scribes at the press conference but that was a futile defence. Out of India’s 21 wins since Kohli took over as a full-time captain in mid-2015, only two came outside Asia – against the fangless West Indies. India won two other away series but both against a hapless Sri Lanka (who have even been beaten by Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the recent past). The rest of the wins came in home conditions where the skills of the Indian batsmen are beyond questioning.

Lack of practice game left the management clueless

But can Kohli defend the spineless surrender of the Indian batsmen in the two Tests in South Africa by talking about the victories at home? There is no doubt that Kohli himself has played well outside Asia (he hit a 200 in the Caribbeans and now a 153 in SA) but cricket is not about a single man.

The end results did not change even as the management continued to chop and change the side and it was a logical conclusion. They had no clue about the potential because there was no practice game. The players were picked just on instincts.

The abject failure of the Indian batsmen in four consecutive innings (Kohli’s 153 hid the failure of the other batsmen in the first innings in Centurion) shows how underprepared they were to bat in these wickets. It’s easier for the bowlers to adjust to alien conditions and the Indian bowlers did an excellent job in restricting South Africa within competitive totals but the batters continued to fail, as they did 25 years ago when India visited South Africa for the first time.

It was futile to play Sri Lanka ahead of SA series

India could have easily devoted more time for the tour by avoiding the meaningless series against Sri Lanka. Having walloped the Islanders in their den in all formats a few months ago, it was unnecessary to invite them at home again and bulldoze them to inflate the false pride.

Kohli did the right thing by pointing out the overdose of cricket but what did the administrators do eventually even after hearing none other than the captain expressing his concern? This time, it might have been too late to change the itinerary but with a number of tough away tours scheduled in the next year or so, will they spare a thought for the team’s meaningful preparation? If it doesn’t happen even after what happened in South Africa, it will be unfortunate.

The worse team selection (ignoring Ajinkya Rahane for both the Tests and dropping Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in the second were beyond comprehension), failure of the opening batsmen, dropping several important catches and lack of application (Hardik Pandya’s atrocious batting performance in the second Test left the great Kapil Dev, with whom a comparison was being drawn, frustrated) could have been avoided had India played a couple of practice games.

There was no doubt that the alien conditions had baffled the management’s thinking as they judged Rahane by his recent form and picked Ishant Sharma over Kumar in the second Test considering the extra bounce. But as former South African captain, Shaun Pollock said after the Centurion Test that a bowler who has done well in the first Test shouldn’t have been ignored, it reflects the confusion that India had on marshalling their resources.

We can still give Kohli the benefit of doubt for it has been his toughest away series so far and we hope that he learns from this experience and does not become over-confident and lose it badly. Shastri also requires to play a balancing role for two strongly opinionated men might not see the right path to follow and one believes that’s what happened in South Africa in early 2018.