Why have India batters struggled against spin bowling recently?

Indian Cricket Team at one point was known to be the best batting unit against the spinners. While the batters from yesteryears used to struggle against the pacers, the equation has taken a drastic U-turn in the last decade. 

Ever since the retirement of stalwarts such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman, the Indian batters have struggled against spin. Even the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, and Yuvraj Singh had moderate success towards the spin bowlers. 

The batters in the current era were brutally exposed when the Sri Lankan spinners ran riot during the ODI series. Dunith Wellage and Jeffrey Vandersay picked five and six wickets respectively to dent the Indian team in the final two ODI matches. 

Also Read: Former India batter talks about Virat Kohli's struggles against spin during Sri Lanka series

India’s struggle against quality spinners

Nathan Lyon, Rangana Herath, and Steven O Keefe are the three bowlers who have made a dent against the India batters. Australian star, Nathan Lyon in particular bamboozled the Indian batters both in India and at home in Australia. 

One of the biggest problems Indian batters face is the fact that they have minimal footwork when playing the spinners. Virat Kohli in particular has been caught in front of the wicket and has been out LBW. Some of the batters seem to let the bowlers play with their psyche and show no application to milk them for runs. Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni single-handedly broke the myth of Ajantha Mendis when he was new. 

After his heroics in 2008, Mendis was heralded as the next big star of Sri Lankan cricket. In 2009, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni used their feet early to meet the ball on the full. Ajantha Mendis wasn’t given a chance to pitch the ball hence taking the turn out of the equation. Both batters made sure to rotate the strike and put the bad balls away for fours. This affected the rhythm that Ajantha Mendis had and he eventually started to lose his confidence. 

Indian batters in today’s times don’t use the sweep shot generally, both the conventional and the paddle sweep. Rohit Sharma is the only batter to use the sweep shot and it had the desired effect as the Lankan bowlers found it hard to contain the Indian skipper. 

Most of the batters try to pattern their play like they do in the IPL. While it may be a tough pill to swallow there is a certain truth to what Maheesh Theekshana said. India have become accustomed to flat pitches and shorter boundaries. Secondly, most of the batters seem intent on scoring boundaries against the spinners. The need to grind out the bowlers for 3-4 overs out of their ten-over quota seems almost redundant. 

So what can the next generation of batters do to rectify this? Firstly they need to head back to domestic cricket for a while. The BCCI must ensure they are making wickets where the ball turns and jumps. It might not be pleasant to see a low-scoring match but the batters will learn how to play spin. The BCCI must also initiate more help for the spin bowlers. It is almost scary that post the eventual retirements of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja there are no likely candidates. 

In 1998 when Shane Warne was set to tour India, the great Sachin Tendulkar went for a camp in Chennai. Former spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was asked to bowl around the wicket on the rough. It was a clear ploy by Sachin Tendulkar to counter the threat that Shane Warne could possess on a day four and day five-wicket in India. 

India will now play Bangladesh in their next series and one can expect the pitches to be flat with huge help from the seamers. Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir will hope that in the next 30-plus days the batters get into the groove against the spin threat that Bangladesh can bring. 

If India has to get better at playing spin, they have to use the brain trust of some of their former greats. This is where someone like Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble can come into the picture. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja can also be roped in to work with the batters and have them play the two veteran spinners on a specifically curated track that is crumbling. 

Team India is in its comfort zone right now and it needs a rude awakening. If they don’t smarten up quickly, spinners from across the world will eventually become aware. Spinners are like sharks who smell blood and at this point in time, the Indian Cricket Team is easy prey.