Ravichandran Ashwin criticised India’s Kolkata defeat by saying the team shouldn’t ask for turning pitches if they can’t handle quality spin themselves.
India’s collapse while chasing 124 in the first Test against South Africa has faced strong criticism, with Ravichandran Ashwin delivering one of the sharpest assessments. The former off-spinner said India’s current batting group lacks the technical depth earlier generations showed against quality spin. He pointed to last year’s 3-0 defeat to New Zealand, where Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel exposed similar weaknesses.
Ashwin argued that teams requesting spin-friendly tracks must first ensure their batters have the ability to handle such conditions.
“I am gonna stick my neck out and say in another game in an era where spin bowling was combated very well. I will take the names Amol Muzumdar and Mithun Manhas, who is the BCCI President, and I won’t take all the names, but Sachin Tendulkar in his prime, the God of Cricket. If these guys had played on the same wicket against spin, this game would have gone to four days,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.
In a total of 16 batters, only three to four players have defended well. If you want to play on turning tracks, then your game against spin has to be good; otherwise, don’t play on such pitches as simple,” he added.
Visiting Teams Now Handle Spin Better, Says Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin added that several visiting teams now handle spin better than India because they train specifically for subcontinent conditions. However, Indian batters lack the same preparation at home.
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“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,” he concluded.
With the second Test starting on November 22 in Guwahati, India must win to level the series.
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