Need to assess cramped schedule in future: Kohli

By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, Nov 23

WITH India playing most of their series outside India for over a year starting with the South African tour, the players are hardly getting any time to prepare for the gruelling assignments. Lack of space for camps has forced India to use the current series against Sri Lanka as preparation for the impending SA series.
On the eve of the second Test here at VCA Jamtha Stadium, captain Virat Kolhi rued not getting enough time to prepare for the South Africa series and pointed out that the players are easily criticised for their performance but nobody looks at the days they get to prepare for a tough tour.
Kohli also confirmed that the team management did request the board and curators for green tops in the current series.
“Yes, because unfortunately we get only two days before we fly to South Africa after this series gets over. So we have no choice but be in game situation and think of what’s coming ahead of us. Had we got a month off ideally, we would have done a proper preparation in a camp sort of scenario but we have to sort of make do with what we have. As usual cramped for time, which I think we needed to assess in future as well because we very easily assess the team when go abroad but we don’t look at how many days we have got to prepare before we go to a particular place to play,” the skipper came up with a lengthy explanation.
“Everyone starts judging players when results come after Test matches. It should be a fair game. Whether we get to prepare the way, we want to. Then we are entitled to be criticised.
“So we thought this is an ample opportunity for us to challenge ourselves, put us in a situation… As I said, we want to embrace being in difficult conditions,” Kohli added.
India would be without first match performers Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 94 in second innings and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who rattled Sri Lankan’s in second essay with four wickets. But Kohli said it was not a worrying sign.“Not difficult at all, because we pick a squad keeping in mind all 15 are equipped with what is required to perform at the international level. These kinds of scenarios where two guys miss out for personal reasons is an opportunity for the guys who get games in these situations. I am not worried at all,” he said.
Talking about the Jamtha wicket Kohli said it was a usual Nagpur strip with nice bounce.
“The wicket is quite hard as it usually is at Nagpur with a nice grass covering on it. So, the fast bowlers should be in play for the first couple of days, for sure, because of the bounce and the nice carry off it as well. From there on, the spinners will come into play. It is a pretty good wicket for overall Test cricket, I feel.”
Two years ago, at the same venue Kohli had sought a rank turner against South Africa. That Test ended in just three days but the captain said past records do not matter.
“That (past record) wouldn’t matter because, obviously you have to look at what you are playing at, what kind of wicket you are playing on and pick the team accordingly,” he added.