Harbhajan Singh blames turning pitches for Indian batters’ struggles against spinners

Indian batters have been known to be the best players of the spin over the years thanks to their nimble foot moment and flawless wrist work however, in recent years the Indian batters have struggled to deal with spinners. The former spinner Harbhajan Singh would attribute sides’s troubles against tweakers are due to Test pitches which have been extremely spinner-friendly.

“We wanted to win and we did win but we wanted to win in two and a half days. I think, if we had produced normal pitches that started to turn from Day 3 and Day 4, we still would have won but the batters would have gotten time to settle in. And we wouldn’t be discussing the problems of our batters against spinners. We dented the confidence of our batters because anybody gets out (cheaply) on those pitches,” Harbhajan told Sports Tak.

India did play on rank-turners against Australia in 2023 and the series ended up 2-1 (Four-match Test series). The Indian batters were found wanting on an Indore surface in the third Test which was turning square right from ball one of the Test match. However, in 2024 when the Indian team faced England the pitches were more conducive to all departments and the Indian team ended up winning the five-match Test series 4-1.

“We still have a chance (to rectify this). If we pay on good pitches, I don’t think anyone can beat India. The pacers that India have, the spin attack that there is, they would win you Tests on Day 5 if not on Day 3. But if you play on good pitches, the batters will score runs, and their confidence will only go up when they score runs. So I don’t think our batters have forgotten to play spin but the conditions have been such (in the last few years) that it has become almost impossible,” he added.

The problems of facing spin have not only been prevalent in red-ball cricket but also were seen in white-ball cricket in the recently concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka.

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