Former India opener Gautam Gambhir pointed out a basic mistake the Indian batters are making while playing spin, and used the example of dismissals of opener Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli to elaborate on the issue.
His words came as India began the first of the two Tests against Sri Lanka in Mohali on March 4. This match marked the debut of Rohit Sharma as the 35th India Test captain and was also the 100th Test match for former captain Virat Kohli.
Rohit Sharma (29) and Mayank Agarwal (33) added 52 runs for the opening wicket. Then Hanuma Vihari (58) and Virat Kohli (45) added 90 runs for the third wicket.
Speaking on the post-Tea show on Star Sports on Day 1 of the first Test, Gambhir said that the Indian batters need to revisit their basics, touching on how Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli got out to Sri Lankan spinner Lasith Embuldeniya.
“One of the major concerns is that the bat is in the line of pads. When that happens, it is difficult to play deliveries that turn away as well as those that don't turn. If you keep your bat ahead of your pad, you will be beaten only on one edge. When you look at Mayank Agarwal's dismissal, he was beaten on the inside edge. In Virat Kohli's case, he was beaten on the outside edge. So, it is very important to have your bat ahead of your pad,” Gambhir said.
The left-handed opener further said that the amount of white-ball cricket India is playing and preparations on facing fast bowlers, has caused the batters to move away from the basics.
“This is usually taught in formative years. Nowadays, you play so much limited-overs cricket that you lose your basics, the good habits die down. You've concentrated significantly on fast bowling, so I believe Indian batters have a scope for improvement in tackling spin,” said Gambhir.
(Star Sports inputs)
