Ravi Shastri was at his defiant best as he spoke with the media ahead of the fifth and final Test between India and England that starts on Friday at the Oval in London. India's head coach defended Virat Kohli's team, saying the current set of players have achieved things not many others have in the past.
Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday, Shastri suggested the 3-1 scoreline in England's favour at the moment could easily have been a lot different.
"The fact of the matter is that you had a chance. The scoreline says 3-1 which means India has lost the series. What the scoreline doesn't say is that India could've been 3-1 up, or the scoreline 2-2. And my team knows it. They would've hurt, and rightly so after the last game, but this is a team that will not throw in the towel. It will come out there to compete and not look to be on the first flight home. Rest assured," he said.
Shastri said the Indian team now needs to learn how to close out matches. "I think you've got to get tough mentally. We've run teams close overseas and competed. But now it's not just about competing, we've got to complete games from here. And the endeavour is to learn, understand where you made mistakes, take it head-on, and try to correct it," said the 56-year-old.
Shastri then went on to explain how the current Indian team is probably the best one in the last 15-20 years. "The endeavour of this team is to travel well and compete and win. If you look at the last three years, we have won nine matches overseas and three series. I can't think of any Indian team in the last 15-20 years which has had that kind of a run in such a short period of time. And you've had some great players playing in those series.
"So the promise is there. It's just about getting tougher mentally. You've got to hurt when you lose such matches because that's when you look within and come out with the right kind of answer to combat such situations again and get past the finishing line. One day you will, as long as you believe," he said.
One of the biggest problems for India in the ongoing series has been the lack of runs from the opening batsmen. Shastri, though, wasn't too critical of the likes of KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay. You obviously need your top order to give you starts but if you look at both sides, it has not been easy. The bowling has been really good and it has been a challenge. It's how you overcome that challenge. It's, again, believing in yourself, believing in your ability, and hoping for some luck on the way as well," he said.
