In India’s home reboot, the need to relearn the art of playing spin

India batters must raise their game against turning ball to use their spin-to-win strategy in Tests

- Rasesh Mandani

While working on new deliveries and variations, spin bowlers never stop practising their stock ball. Tennis players who develop the drop shot late in their career ensure their baseline power is not compromised. India’s batters, somewhere in their quest to conquer pace in SENA countries, appear to have lost the art of playing spin.

For an Indian batter, countering spin would often resemble a cheat code. It was almost a given that they would out-bat the opposition, even as the home spinners would spin their web. Not any longer.

It’s not just with the current crop of batters, the decline has been slow but systemic. The clean sweep by New Zealand (0-3) last year and more recently by South ‘Africa (0-2) only illustrates the point — an experienced batting group had no answers against Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel, and the younger lot looked equally clueless against Simon Harmer’s guile.

India’s top seven batters in the five home Tests collectively averaged under 22, with only one century. “When we won 3-0 against England in 1993 at home, we only had to bat once,” said Pravin Amre, one of England’s many tormentors in a series that has since been famously referred to as Spin-wash ‘93. “It wasn’t even appreciated. People used to laugh at us, (saying) that we are only good against spin. Now India batters have to learn to play spin all over again.”