Former India spinner R Ashwin has made a shocking claim that Indian batters have forgotten the art of playing spinners at home. He also added that batters from Western teams have become much better at handling spin than Indians.
This comes after South Africa's spinners humiliated Indian batters in the first Test at Kolkata. First in reply to Proteas 159 in the first innings, India could only muster 189 runs, with Simon Harmer taking four wickets. Then, after being set 124 runs to win the Test, India was bowled out for 93 runs, after Harmer took four wickets again.
Not only Harmer, but Keshav Maharaj and even Aiden Markram made life hell for India on a pitch in Kolkata that assisted spinners and had uneven bounce from day one.
According to Ashwin, the game would have ended on day four and India would have won if players from earlier eras like Sachin Tendulkar, Amol Mazumdar, and current BCCI president Mithun Manhas had played on this track.
"I am gonna stick my neck out and say in another game in an era where spin bowling was combated very well. I will take the names Amol Muzumdar and Mithun Manhas, who is the BCCI President, and I won't take all the names, but Sachin Tendulkar in his prime, the God of Cricket.
If these guys had played on the same wicket against spin, this game would have gone to four days. In a total of 16 batters, only three to four players have defended well. If you want to play on turning tracks, then your game against spin has to be good; otherwise, don't play on such pitches as simple," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
According to Ashwin, it all boils down to India's preparation against spin. The 39-year-old believes India's players have improved significantly on fast bowling tracks because they view it as a challenge, as opposed to their approach to spin.
"We are not the best players of spin going around in the world at this point in time. Most Western teams are better than India now because they come to India, they practice it a lot more, but we don't practice enough of it. But we are superior players of fast bowling in many other venues right now because we consider that as a challenge, but not this. That is the difference," Ashwin added.
South Africa notched a Test win in India for the first time since 2010. They’ll have a chance to win their first Test series in India since 2000, when the second and final Test begins in Guwahati on November 22.
(ANI inputs)
