India and spin are one in all cricket’s most established associations. It’s an entwinement constructed concurrently on the nation’s turning tracks and the legendary spinners who thrived on them.
A pure byproduct of this was the spin-playing skill of Indian batters, which remained largely on par with the standard of the nation’s tweakers.
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However over the previous couple of years, this notion has been pushed, practically to the breaking level, by visiting spinners who’ve uncovered Indian batters’ deficiencies in opposition to the turning ball.
Since 2020, Indian batters have averaged simply 32.74 in opposition to spinners at residence. The final time this determine dipped beneath 40 in a decade was within the Nineteen Seventies.
On Sunday, South Africa cashed in on India’s growingly evident vulnerability in opposition to spin to say a well-known win on the Eden Gardens.
Seven of the 9 Indian wickets to fall in India’s failed 124-run chase have been claimed by the Proteas spinners, who made the a lot of the unpredictable bounce on provide.
The house batters struggled primarily in opposition to the exact off-spin of Simon Harmer, who ended the Check with two four-wicket hauls.
It could be laborious to not join the Kolkata Check to India’s collection defeat in opposition to New Zealand in 2024, the place it suffered devastation by the hands of spinners Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner.
A temperament problem
Regardless of questions being raised over the Indian batters’ technical skill – or somewhat lack of it – in opposition to spin, Indian coach Gautam Gambhir believes it’s a matter of temperament.
“In Check cricket, there may be not solely a necessity for talent, there may be additionally a necessity for psychological toughness,” mentioned Gambhir after the Kolkata defeat.
“As a result of, in Check, in case you are not in a position to take up stress, regardless of how a lot of a turning wicket it’s, the primary 10-Quarter-hour are powerful. When you see that off, you get used to the tempo of the wicket, and issues begin getting simpler. So, I consider, greater than the talent, it’s the skill to soak up stress,” added Gambhir.
No matter the basis trigger, it’s evident that India’s spin-batting capabilities in Check cricket, significantly on residence soil, have declined.
Enjoying no small half on this drop-off has been India’s insistence on residence pitches that provide flip proper from Day 1, a pattern which started within the 2021 collection in opposition to England.
The case was no completely different on the Eden Gardens, the place the ball spun and bounced sharply proper from the primary day. Gambhir reiterated after the sport that this was precisely the floor the staff administration needed.
“We’ve at all times mentioned we would like turning wickets the place the ball turns a bit on day one in order that the toss doesn’t turn out to be an necessary issue. We’ve by no means mentioned we wish to play on dangerous wickets or rank turners,” mentioned Gambhir.
On pitches which might be turning extra dynamically than earlier than, the house batters have discovered it laborious to bat out time. India has misplaced a wicket each 56 balls to spinners in residence Checks this decade, the bottom it has ever been for the reason that Thirties.
In Kolkata, South African skipper Temba Bavuma showcased the worth of old style grunt work, with a hard-earned fifty within the second innings, which ultimately proved to be the distinction between the 2 sides.
The power to belief one’s defence and stick by difficult phases of play, as displayed by Bavuma, was what Gambhir needed from his gamers on such wickets.
“It is a wicket the place your method could be judged, your psychological toughness could be challenged. As a result of in case you are seeking to grind, in case you are seeking to bat lengthy, then you may make runs. However in case you are in an attacking mindset, you’ll [eventually] lose your wicket. Whoever has defended nicely, whether or not it’s KL Rahul, Bavuma or Washington Sundar, they made runs. So, in the end, you probably have a stable defence, then it wasn’t a wicket the place you possibly can’t make runs,” added Gambhir.
Swept below the rug
Whereas one may query a number of aspects of Indian batting in opposition to spin, one anomaly that stands out is the sweep shot, a essential software in taking part in spinners.
Since 2020, solely Afghanistan has used the sweep – combining standard sweep, reverse and slog – much less ceaselessly in opposition to the spinners than India in Check cricket.
Even when Indian batters do play the sweep, it’s extra typically an attacking choice than a technique to rotate the strike.
It’s value noting that this can be a continuation of India’s ‘sweeping’ method within the final decade – solely 3.6 per cent of all balls confronted by Indian batters in Checks, from 2010 to 2020, have been swept.
However, as the character of Indian pitches modified, visiting batters have opted to comb extra typically, whereas India refused to adapt. With the deviation off the floor rising, an extreme reliance on straight-batted photographs has been a low-percentage scoring choice.
Within the final decade, South Africa performed 9 Checks in India and employed the sweep shot in opposition to simply 2.9 per cent of all of the balls it confronted in opposition to spinners. In Kolkata, that quantity swelled to 9.2. For India, the corresponding determine was 5.8.
Bavuma, on the post-match interplay, defined how he and his staff utilise the sweep shot.
“I assume typically it’s [sweep] not essentially to get a boundary. It’s only a approach of rotating strike. It’s a bit on the high-risk finish, as a result of their bowlers are typically fairly wicket-to-wicket. However as you’ll have seen, you possibly can’t sort of simply sit there and block and block and block. You’ve bought to attempt to preserve the scoreboard ticking. Luckily, they’d unfold the sector so there have been singles on affords and ones and twos,” mentioned Bavuma.
Whereas incorporating extra sweep photographs into its batting plan may assist India improve its run-scoring choices, it stays to be seen what the facet can do on the defensive entrance, which is the place Gambhir believes his staff is missing.
Revealed on Nov 17, 2025