Reports: Indian players unhappy with Kohli-Shastri’s changing and chopping
One of the main reasons why the Indian team is not doing well in England is because of the frequent chopping and changing of the playing XI. Ever since Virat Kohli took over the captaincy, it took as many as 38 matches to field the same playing XI in two consecutive games.
Even the Test specialists like Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara weren't spared as the team management went to the limits and dropped the mainstays from the playing XI owing to form. This gave the players an insecurity and it took a toll on their confidence which was very evident from the way they have been playing of late.
The players in the team are not happy with this constant changes in the side and they feel the team management should give them a brief rope if they want them to perform at their best.
"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," a member of the Indian team that toured England told Indian Express.
“You start to second guess. Kyun aisey kar rahe hain? You then start feeling you are on your own here,” said another player.
While the batsmen have faced a lot of criticisms, the bowlers were a bit below-par, according to another member of the team, who feels that bowling preparations could have been more diligent, especially given the lower middle-order strength of England.
“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,” the player said.