The former Australia captain, Ricky Ponting, has highlighted a surprising point for the struggle of the Indian batters against spin, despite carrying the reputation of being the best in the business. None of those batters, apart from opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant, looked in fluent touch against the slow bowlers.
India was handed the rarest 0-3 clean sweep against New Zealand in the recent home series before their upcoming five-match Test trip to Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, where they will be required to earn four victories in five encounters without a single defeat to confirm their qualification for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25.
Ricky Ponting heaped praise on the Tom Latham-led side for their exceptional performance with both bat and ball, besides being electric on the field throughout the series. However, the most impressive part for the veteran was how the Blackcaps claimed Everest without the services of their former captain and experienced batter, Kane Williamson.
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Before the start of the series, hardly anyone gave much of a chance to the visiting side, who was coming on the back of their 2-0 defeat in Sri Lanka. But they turned the tables in two and half weeks. The Kiwis excellently began the series at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium with an eight-wicket victory, having bundled out for just 46 in the first innings, their third-lowest innings total in the longest format.
That led the management to offer slow and low turners for the next two games in Pune and Mumbai. The left-arm spin of Mitchell Santer, who picked up 13 wickets in the second clash, and Ajaz Patel, who continued his dominance at the Wankhede stadium, blew away the batting of the Blue Brigade.
Ricky Ponting blames IPL and over-exposure of T20s for India’s struggle against spin
Both the veteran batters of the home side, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, struggled in the middle against the spinners. The former hardly had any answer against the various spin bowlers, collecting just 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50 with just one half-century in his name. He missed a full toss of Santer in the first innings of the Pune Test, which displayed his lack of judgment with the line and length.
Ricky Ponting expressed that the series win for New Zealand in India has been a huge achievement, as he didn’t anticipate the result at any stage. He also highlighted the struggles of the Indian batters against the spinners.
“That’s a huge result. One that I wasn’t expecting, to be honest, more so when you look at it with Kane Williamson not being there. When you think about his (Williamson’s) record in the subcontinent, the sort of the rock and the leader that he’s been for that team,” The former Tasmania batter expressed in the recent ICC review.
“I think the one thing it does probably say is it’s starting to highlight India’s vulnerability against good quality spin bowling. It seems as though the skill of the modern Indian batsmen of playing spin is probably not what it used to be.” Ricky Ponting shed light.
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When asked to point out the reason behind these issues, the World Cup-winning leader believed that India’s decision to play on conductive fast bowling, where they lacked facing the spinners, could have played the part.
“Maybe it’s the IPL or how much IPL cricket they’re playing that the younger players are learning the game that way rather than the way that players did 15 or 20 years ago. Maybe because they’re playing on different wickets in India that are probably for the fast bowlers a bit more.” Ricky Ponting concluded.