South African spinner Simon Harmer appealing for a wicket in Kolkata against India. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)India, after being whitewashed against New Zealand last year on the wickets conducive to spin, have found themselves vulnerable again in the first Test against South Africa, where the batting in the final innings could not chase 124 runs and were bundled out for 93 runs. With the defeat, the question of whether the Indian batters are good against a turning ball has come to the forefront yet again. Former Australian cricketer Brad Haddin said Indian batters are not as good against the spinners.
“India play their best cricket when they put a big total on the board, and then they make the opposition claustrophobic with their fields. Their spinners are better than anyone on those surfaces. Their batters actually aren’t that good of players of spin on a surface like that,” Haddin said on the Willow Talk podcast.
“… they (India) are leaving too much to chance. It brings ordinary spinners into the game. Your skill and the craft of using your drift, the different angles of the crease go out of it,” he added.
Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh slammed the quality of the Eden Gardens pitch. “Just two days are done and we are able to see which way the game is going,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel. “They have done RIP to Test cricket. I don’t think Test cricket has any value left. India played exceptionally well in England recently, everyone praised them. The pitches on which they played and how India fought back to win that is Test cricket, that is fun.”
Harbhajan affirmed that even India batting legends Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli would have found it hard to tackle the conditions on the pitch.
“This pitch is like, you pitch the ball here and it’s turning and going elsewhere. Batters hardly know what to do. Even the likes of Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar cannot survive on such pitches because one ball will keep low, bounce extra or turn viciously to get your wicket. So, technique is not coming into play, just the pitch,” he added.
“It’s been happening for years now,” he said. “When I talk about it, people tell me why do you speak about them. I don’t think we have seen such unprepared conditions. It’s not going the right way. It’s pathetic, utter nonsense to see this. They are making fun of the game,” lambasted the spin legend.
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