Indian batters lack confidence in spin or control of shots: Aakash Chopra

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has been sharing his thoughts on Indian home conditions in recent times. Notably, India lost their first Test series at home since 2012, when New Zealand whitewashed them 0-3. It is also the first time the Asian giants have suffered a 0-3 whitewash at home in their history of Test cricket.

India were undone by New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santer and Ajaz Patel in the second and third Tests respectively. Santner registered his career-best 13 wickets in Pune onwards Ajaz picked 11 wickets to bring the Indian batsman to his knees. Commenting on India’s approach against spin, Chopra said they can only play spin well on flat courts.

“Now it feels like we have to admit that we can’t play spin. Let’s be very, very honest, let’s not beat around the bush. On flat courts we can (play spin), but anyone can on a flat court. The only The difference is that we play better spin than other teams on flat tracks and also bowl better because our spinners have quality,” said Chopra on the YouTube channel.

Elaborating further, the former opening batsman said that the batters lack confidence against spin and lack control over their shots.

We’re trying to find a shot when it’s not there: Chopra

“We don’t trust the spin, nor do we control our shots. We try to find a shot when it’s not there, try sweeps and practice it every morning before the start of the game. But it’s just like learning of a new language, my If you don’t know a language, it takes a lot of time to learn it,” he added.

Indian batsmen have been battling against spinners on home soil since 2021, which is evident from their declining batting averages. Star batsman Virat Kohli had an average of 68.42 at home until 2019, which has dropped to 29.92 since 2021. Captain Rohit Sharma (88.33 to 35.58) and KL Rahul (44.25 to 29.33) have also seen significant declines. Therefore, the Asian Giants need to turn things around quickly to rebuild their home dominance after being humiliated by New Zealand.