Modern Indian batsmen appear to prefer world-class pace to superb spin. The Kolkata Test against South Africa revealed India’s weakness to spin once more, as Gautam Gambhir spearheaded the team management’s request for a turning track, which backfired.
With Indian hitters clearly struggling, veteran cricketer R Ashwin was quick to point out that players from several Western countries are now stronger at spin than many Indians. Sunil Gavaskar, the renowned batter, has added to the topic by explaining why this trend has evolved.
“We are not the best spin going around in the world at this point in time. Most Western teams are better than India now because they come to India, they practice it a lot more, but we don’t practice enough of it. But we are superior players of fast bowling in many other venues right now because we consider that as a challenge, but not this. That is the difference,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
The cricketer-turned-commentator has often called for a closer connection with domestic cricket, but he did not hesitate to point out how many Indian stars avoid playing in the Ranji Trophy even when their schedules allow it. Expecting them to excel on turning tracks, as seen in domestic cricket, is ridiculous.
“A lot of our players do not play domestic cricket. If you play domestic cricket, you will get to play on such pitches, right? Because even at the domestic level, teams are trying to get the points so that they qualify for the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy, which means that there will be pitches where the ball will grip and turn a little bit. But none of our players are playing that. None of our current players. How many of our current players actually deign to go down and play Ranji Trophy?,” said Gavaskar on Sports Tak.
Gavaskar has also consistently criticized players’ workload management. In his opinion, a national cricketer should be ready to play every match for his country whenever the opportunity arises. He has repeatedly maintained that missing Ranji Trophy games under the guise of workload management is wrong, emphasizing that such decisions stifle a player’s development and preparation.
“No, they don’t because there’s this word called workload. Workload is the word. They don’t want to play. They don’t want to play. They only want to play in the Ranji Trophy if they are out of form. Otherwise, they don’t want to play. So that is the answer. Maybe you want to look at, you know, preparing a pitch where the ball will grip and turn a little bit. Then you want to pick guys who are playing domestic cricket. We do not really want to play guys who are playing international cricket because they don’t have the practice against such kind,” said Gavaskar.
