A three-match T20 series is currently being played between India and New Zealand. In the first match, New Zealand won by 21 runs. In the counterattack, the Indian team won the second match by six wickets. The T20I series decider match will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 1st February.
If we look at this entire T20I series, the long-standing weakness of Indian batsmen has again emerged. We have witnessed that Indian batters are seen struggling in front of Kiwi spinners. Especially Indian players new, comers like Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, and Rahul Tripathi have been troubled a lot by the Kiwi spinners. In the first T20I match, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, and Michael Bracewell restricted the Indian batter, did not allow runs to be scored openly, and took wickets. Even the Kiwi skipper Mitchell Santner bowled a maiden over to ICC Men’s T20 No. 1 ranking batter Surya Kumar Yadav.
The situation of the men in blue is the same in the second T20 match as well in Lucknow. Looking at this problem of the Indian team, former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has evaluated the reasons for the poor performance of Indian batters in front of New Zealand spinners. He explained that batters are trying to get out of trouble in modern cricket, due to which they struggle against spin bowling.
“Nowadays, batsmen usually find a way out of the problem by attacking the bowlers. It was not like this in our time; at that time, you were trained with it or asked to play the entire spell. Even in seam conditions nowadays, batsmen try to get the bowler out of the attack by playing attacking cricket. He does not hesitate to hit sixes after the fielder is on the long on or long off boundary line. T20 has changed their cricket. Perhaps this is why batsmen are not able to play spinners properly.” Wasim Jaffer said this while attending a media show as a cricket expert.
Further, Jaffer stated that this is a matter of concern. There is more focus on fast bowling, and you don’t get a chance to play a lot of spins, even in the domestic circuit.
