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Harbhajan Singh Blames Turning Pitches For Indian Batters' Constant Struggle Vs Spin

Kohli has recently struggled against spin bowling in Tests [x] Kohli has recently struggled against spin bowling in Tests [x]

Former India cricketer, Harbhajan Singh has blamed the turning pitches in India for the constant struggle of the batters against quality spin bowling.

After months of playing white-ball cricket, Test cricket returns to India next month when the Rohit Sharma led Indian side will host a confident Bangladesh team for a two-match Test series. The series will be a part of the WTC cycle and the home team will look to assert their domination by winning it 2-0.'

Introduction of WTC forced India to prepare rank turners

With the introduction of WTC, Teams are fighting it hard to secure their place in the finals, which generally takes place in the month of June. As a result of this desperation, we tend to see the home side making pitches which suits their style of play.

The pitches in India, before the introduction of WTC was a balanced one, offering assistance to the spinners, and also, allowing the batters to showcase their dominance. However, with the pressure of reaching the WTC finals, pitches in India have become a rank-turner, offering plenty of turn, which is the strength of  Indian bowling attack.

However, Harbhajan feels that such pitches have become a graveyard for the Indian batters and have dented their confidence.

"We've started playing on pitches that turn a lot more. We wanted to win and we did win but we won 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. We dented the confidence of our batters because anybody get out (cheaply) on those pitches," Harbhajan said on Sports Tak.

Indian batters' recent struggle on rank-turners

India played on a rank-turner against Australia in early 2023, barely scrapped past them, winning the series 2-1. While the bowlers enjoyed a fruitful outing, the batters struggled to get runs, with their averages going down considerably.

In their recent Test series against England, the curator prepared a rank-turner for the first Test, but it backfired badly as India shockingly lost the opening Test match. The likes of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and other senior batters have all struggled with the spin issue, and that has dented their confidence in the long-run.

However, they then prepared a sporting wicket and came back from behind to win the series 4-1.