India batters’ issues against spin were exposed yet again as the team suffered 0-2 whitewash in Test series.
The three-match ODI series between India and South Africa is all set to get underway on Sunday (November 30) at JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi.
On the eve of the series opener, India’s stand-in skipper KL Rahul addressed a press conference, where he spoke about the side's batting woes against spinners, stating that he does not have a definitive answer.
India batters’ issues against spin were exposed yet again as the team suffered 0-2 sweep in the recently concluded Test series against South Africa at home.
India lost the opening Test at Eden Gardens by 30 runs, failing to chase a modest target of 124 on a crumbling surface. In the second Test at Guwahati, the Indian batters succumbed to scoreboard pressure on a flat wicket as the hosts were bowled out for 201 and 140 across two innings.
“I cannot give you a definitive answer. I can only say that we have not been able to play spinners well. We understand and recognise that this is a part of our game and that we are not able to play better against spin bowling. You spoke about (Sunil) Gavaskar sir speaking on the issue - we can talk to him and understand what we need to do better against spin. We are already trying to find ways to improve. I don't think it will happen overnight.”
“I don't know the answer as to why we used to play earlier and why we don't play well now. There are many reasons for this. But we can only think about how we can do better as players and individually, how can we get better and when such a situation comes back, in the next 6-7 months our series will be in Sri Lanka and then the Indian home series will be in Australia - so, how can we do better?”
“What are the technical changes we need to make? These are the things that we individually try to seek answers and try to do better. That's all we can do and we used to play very well against spin bowling. So, maybe we will reach out to those players and our seniors and try to learn from them,” said Rahul in the pre-match press conference.
During the second Test, Rahul reached out to an off-break from Simon Harmer, but was undone by the drift and dip, resulting in him getting knocked over.
Asked if he had any regret over not taking the aggressive route at that time, Rahul replied: “No, there's no regret of not trying a different shot. There's a regret of executing what I did. It is a Test format. At the stage that I was playing, it was the last few overs of the day. I don't think that's the right time for me to try and step down and hit the bowler for a boundary. Looking back, maybe I would have but it was only the second ball of the over.”
“If I had stepped down and gotten out, maybe that would have been a question mark in my own head as to whether that was right or wrong. At that point in time, I think defending was the right option to do which I didn't do well enough. That's what I take away from that dismissal,” he added.
Rahul also stated that the Test series whitewash won't have any bearing on their approach in the ODI series against South Africa. “Both are very different formats. The players are different, the setup is different. We won't carry that. Obviously, the Test team will be disappointed and hurt that we couldn't do well in Guwahati and Kolkata. But it's important that we forget that and focus on this series.”
“The conversation has been about how we haven't played a lot of one-day matches since the Champions Trophy. So, it'll be important that we catch that rhythm and try to get that momentum of playing one-day cricket and performing in ODI cricket. We've all played, so we'll keep talking about what tactical changes we'll have to make and how we'll have to play with the mindset. We'll try to do the same,” he concluded.
(With NDTV Inputs)