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Harbhajan Singh said the Indian team’s obsession with rank turners negatively impacted Ajinkya Rahane’s career.
Ajinkya Rahane (Picture Credit: AFP)
Team India’s first Test series defeat in 12 years has led to a massive uproar among fans and experts. The Rohit Sharma-led side lost the second Test against New Zealand by 113 runs to go 2-0 down in the ongoing three-Test series. The Indian batters succumbed to a quality spin attack, with left-arm tweaker Mitchell Santner picking up a 13-wicket match haul.
Speaking about the batting collapses India went through against New Zealand, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh said the Indian batters have lost a lot of confidence over the years by playing on rank turners.
“If you have had a great record at home for so long and if you lose, obviously there will be chatter. Credit to New Zealand for playing the way they did, and these were alien conditions and also not a pitch where wear and tear was natural.
“It was a tailor-made condition for spinners where the ball was supposed to turn from the first hour,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by PTI.
Harbhajan questioned India’s tactical approach, citing Ajinkya Rahane’s example.
“Look at the trend during the last decade. We are playing mostly on turners through the last decade with the hope that we will win the toss, score 300 and control the game.
“But we don’t know if we are at the receiving end, if we have the batting to wriggle out on turners. Our batters have lost a lot of confidence playing on these tracks. The biggest example is Ajinkya Rahane, a fine player. His career suffered because of these kinds of surfaces,” Harbhajan was cut-throat in his assessment.
Harbhajan couldn’t hide his sarcasm when he spoke about the kind of result-oriented pitches that the Indian team management in the past few years have gone for.
“If you prepare rank turners, you don’t play spinners who can turn the ball on the flattest of decks. All you need is bowlers who are accurate. Washy (Washington Sundar) and Axar (Patel) can do the job, and you won’t need Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s quality.
“You had Joe Root getting five wickets here some years back. Bring Varun Chakravarthy, who is a white-ball specialist. He will run through sides,” Harbhajan said.
(With Agency Inputs)
