With the five-Test rubber already lost 1-3 and the fifth and final Test starting on Friday, players have expressed their opinions over the constant chopping and changing policy of Kohli
Nottingham: The frequent changes to the playing XI in England by captain Virat Kohli and the team management had put pressure on the players, one of the members of the Indian squad has admitted.
Kohli is known to change his side’s playing personnel for each match. He had done it in each of the 38 Tests he had captained. However, that was halted in the fourth Test against England in Southampton as he announced an unchanged XI for the first time under his leadership.
With the five-Test rubber already lost 1-3 and the fifth and final Test starting on Friday, players have expressed their opinions over the constant chopping and changing policy of Kohli.
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"It would have been better if they had said at the start of the tour, ‘guys, we will go with the same team for the first three Tests. Do your best.’ That gives a different kind of confidence. Kohli is a good man and wants the best for the team and doesn’t mean to create it but the changes make you doubt yourself. It’s our mistake to feel like that probably but we are humans," an unnamed Indian player told Indian Express.
“You start to second guess. Kyun aisey kar rahe hain? (Why are they doing like this?) You then start feeling you are on your own here,” said another player.
Another player said there was no “proper planning” to stop the England lower-middle order from scoring.
“Before the start of the series, it was clear to me that England’s lower-middle order is its strength. You might get their top out but they will fight later. In nearly every game, we let the lower-middle order to score. I got the feeling that when we took the first four wickets cheaply, there was a feeling as if the job was over. We had crushed them. Bit more discipline and proper planning and focus would have been better," an Indian player said.
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