Historically, Indian teams in the past batted effectively and bowled extremely well in spin friendly conditions in home and in subcontinental conditions.

In contrary to the past, the current Indian batsmen struggle against spin and international teams have noticed this flaw and includes quality spinners in their squad when they tour India.  

Why has current Indian batsmen lost the art of playing spin, an art they historically dominated.

Presented By: Raghunath Nair

Introduction

Home pitches in India produce dusty, slow and dry pitches which helps the slow arm spinners.

In the past, international teams struggled in spin friendly conditions and helped India to dominate home test series.

All the best batsmen against spin came from subcontinental teams but lately Australia, England and New Zealand have also produced some great batsmen who are not troubled by the spinning ball.    

Indian Domestic Cricket

Domestic cricket in India always produced slow and dry pitches immaterial of the format of the game.

Spinners did the major share of the bowling and teams with better spinners dominated the domestic tournaments.

In the process, India did produce world class spinners.

Erappally Prasanna, B.S Chandrasekhar, Venkat Raghavan and Bishen Singh Bedi made the famous quartet of the 70s which dominated cricket at least in home conditions.

Today, India leads the list of quality spinners in the world.

Till the late 90s, Indian batsmen played spin comfortably and never struggled against the spinners of the opposition. This was due to their astute batting technique to play spin.

Touring teams to India came with some very good spinners but still could not be as effective as the Indian spinners. This made the Indian team at home almost invincible.

Why touring team found it difficult to dominate in Indian conditions

Indian players grew up playing in spin friendly pitches that are slow dry and low. Their batting technique helped them play the spin well but visiting teams struggle in slow and dry Indian surfaces.

In the recent past, Indian batting has deteriorated playing spin. Indian cricket team have been vulnerable to quick turning wickets and have been troubled with pitches offering bounce.

With time the technical skills of Indian players have deteriorated and they too find themselves in a similar predicament as the visiting teams.

Several reasons contribute to why the Indian batsman struggles against spin and remains an area of weakness for the Indian team.

Also Read: The Art of Spin Bowling in Cricket

Why Indian batsmen have started to struggle against spin .

• Pitch Conditions

Indian pitches used for domestic and international games become minefields due to the slow dry nature of the soil.

A quality spinner along with using the drift and turn, will also take advantage of the uneven bounce due to the wear and tear of the wicket.

Indian pitches are generally slow and low turners.

An Indian International due to a flawed technique can struggle in international pitches offering bounce and turn.

• Lack of technique:

Many Indian batsmen have poor technique to play spin.

The Indian International hardly plays domestic cricket and is rusty against quality spin.

A more stand and deliver approach is adopted and the use of feet to come to the line of the ball is absent.

• Non-Subcontinental Spin-friendly conditions:

Indian batsman grows up playing spin in Indian conditions but struggles in spin friendly conditions when they travel to non-subcontinental conditions. While they are comfortable in slow turners back home, they struggle when the pitch offers quick turn and bounce.

 India not only struggles against pace in Australia and South Africa, but they are at sea when they face quality spinners who can extract bounce and quick spin from the surface.

• Over Confidence

Not respecting spin in home conditions and playing ambitious shots to please the home crowd also plays a part.

“We want sixer ….. We want sixer” reverberates any Indian stadium when the Indian team is batting. This leads to batsman trying to play to the gallery.

• Unprepared Batsmen

Due to his international commitments an Indian international is unable to play domestic cricket and face quality spinners from the domestic circuit.

Batsmen do not get the practice as was the case when they were playing in domestic cricket.

Batsmen prefer practising with the bowling machines and bowlers prefer to under ball in practice nets to avoid injuries and be available in all three formats of the game.

• Limited Overs Cricket

Batsman look to score against spinners in limited overs cricket and tend to be aggressive. Their flaws are not seen as the fields are defensively placed.

Traditional methods of using the feet and playing with soft hands have become redundant.

This has led to a decline in their ability to play spin effectively in Test cricket.

• Lack of Quality domestic spin bowlers

Due to slow and low bounce pitches, the quality of bowling in the Indian domestic circuit is not as high as it used to be.

Domestic spinners are not as potent as the spinners of the past.

 Indian Cricket team have fallen prey to good quality spin bowling and technique has been tested.

Conclusion

Indian batting greats like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have struggled against quality spin. Ajaz Patel took all ten wickets in an innings against India in the last New Zealand tour to India.

Visiting English and Australian teams have been more successful now as compared to visiting teams of the past.

Psychology in cricket for playing spin bowling has changed with more foreign players now playing IPL and understanding Indian conditions better.

Indian cricket team historically used to dominate home series purely on the strength of their superior batting technique against spin, which now is under threat.  

India still prefers rank turners in home test series, with the hope that the visiting team will struggle against the spinning ball more than the Indian cricket team.

This has proven to be a double-edged strategy and on more than one occasion this strategy has backfired.

• Who are the best Spin bowlers in the world ?

Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin have dominated Test cricket.

Muralitharan and Shane Warne will always be in the all-time greatest list

• Who is the Best Indian Batsman against Spin

In the current Indian team, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma play spin well and are not troubled much.

• Who are the Best Batsmen against spin

Pakistan and Sri Lanka historically have played spin better than other teams. In the current era, Joe Root from England and Kane Williamson from New Zealand and Brian Lara from West Indies were/ are the best players of spin.

• What makes a good batsman of spin

Batsman who uses his feet well to spinners look to dominate the game. Judging the line and length, and able to read the spin off the hands of the bowler makes a good batsman of spin