India Seems to Be Enjoying the Coffee in England Rather than Practice: Sandeep Patil

Former Team India chief selector for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and all-rounder Sandeep Patil has lashed out at the Indian players for underperforming in England in the ongoing five-match Test series so far against hosts England.

At the same time, India is currently 0-2 down in the five-match Test series. They face the prospect of yet another series defeat in overseas conditions.

They might be the No. 1 Test team in the world, but they haven’t done justice to their reputation in the series so far.

Many former experts and ex-cricketers had earlier lamented of the lack of preparations for the Test series in South Africa which included Indian head coach Ravi Shastri.

However, India chose to enjoy their break between the limited-overs series and the ODI series by travelling in the United Kingdom (UK). They played just a solitary warm-up game. The match was reduced to a three-day contest after weather conditions were extreme and there were some outfield issues.

Sandeep Patil says India has been enjoying the coffee in England:

India lost the opening Test to England by a close margin 31 runs. All but Virat Kohli failed in the match. He was the lone fighter with the bat for India.

The modern great scored a century and a half-century in the match. However, in the second clash at Lord’s they were thrashed by an innings and 159 runs. None of the batsmen was able to make a mark in the match including Kohli.

Before leaving for the tour of England, Virat Kohli told that they had prepared enough for England and will enjoy their cup of coffee in England. Sandeep Patil took a dig at Kohli and said that the team might have taken the captain’s words too seriously.

“We all clearly remember captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri’s joint press conference before leaving for the tour of England earlier this summer. One bold statement stood out. We have enough days to acclimatise in England, and we are going to enjoy coffee,” Patil wrote in his column for The Quint.

“Seeing the performance of the Indian team in the first two Tests so far, the team really seems to have taken their skipper’s statement seriously – they are truly only enjoying the coffee in English conditions,” he maintained.