India lose 4 out of last 6 Tests at home:Team collapses for 93 in Kolkata, Is India getting trapped in its own spin web?

The Indian team lost the Kolkata Test by 30 runs on Sunday. With this, the team has fallen behind 0-1 in the 2-Test series against South Africa. Chasing a target of 124 runs at the Eden Gardens Stadium, the Indian team was bowled out for 93 runs. This is India’s fourth defeat in Test matches at home in the last one year. After the defeat against South Africa, some blamed Kolkata’s difficult pitch, while others blamed India’s poor batting. But, the big question is whether Indian batters are losing their batting skills against spinners. Indian coach Gautam Gambhir said- ‘The pitch was not so bad that it couldn’t be batted on. This was exactly the kind of pitch we wanted. Indian batters batted poorly against spinners. Our batters need to improve mentally and in terms of skill.’ Gambhir’s point is also valid. Because, India lost 60% of their wickets against spinners in the Kolkata Test. 12 out of 20 batters from the team were dismissed by spinners. Is the inability to play spinners the reason for the loss?
Yes, the statistics from the last one year suggest so. In the 6 Test matches played in India last year, the Indian team lost 87 wickets, out of which 60 wickets were taken by spinners. While 27 wickets went to fast bowlers. In the last one year, in 6 Test matches played on Indian pitches, spinners have taken 77 out of a total of 111 wickets, which is 69%. Meanwhile, pacers have got 31% of the wickets. Why no preference for domestic stars like Sarfaraz? After Gambhir’s statement and statistics, the question arises why our ability to play spin is decreasing. There are 2 reasons for this – the Indian team has the same faces on domestic or foreign tours. Batsmen like Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, and Shreyas Iyer are not seen among them, who are performing strongly with the red ball in domestic cricket. The second reason is that players who have cemented their place in the Indian Test team play less red-ball domestic cricket. Due to this, the ability to play spin on domestic pitches is decreasing. All-time great Sachin Tendulkar also used to play Ranji in his time. But, most of today’s Test team batsmen shy away from playing domestic cricket. Sarfaraz and Patidar were given a chance in the home series last year. They were dropped after failing to perform in two-four matches. Whereas, players like Sai Sudarshan continued to receive back support from the team management. What changed in 25 years? Before 2000, playing spin was our strength. Batsmen like Mohammad Azhar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and VVS Laxman were masters at batting against spin. However, things changed later. BCCI developed the habit of playing on fast pitches to win abroad. This benefited us, but also harmed us. We defeated Australia in their own home during the 2018 and 2021 tours. However, last year we were clean swept against New Zealand. That was the first time in 24 years that a team had clean swept on Indian soil. Before that, in 2000, South Africa had defeated India 2-0 in India. Now, the Indian team is again under threat of being clean swept at home. Last year, New Zealand made a 3-0 clean sweep Last year, the New Zealand team clean swept India by defeating them 3-0 in a 3-Test series. At that time, Indian batsmen could not face New Zealand’s part-time spinners on their home ground. Last month, India played a 2-Test match series against West Indies. The first match was played in Ahmedabad and the second in Delhi. The Indian team won both matches and clean swept the series.