IND vs SA: "Hold a 10 to 15-day camp"- Ajinkya Rahane sees nothing wrong in turning tracks at home but at this condition

Ajinkya Rahane said that Indian batters should be trained to play at spin-friendly wickets.

Test specialist Ajinkya Rahane has defended Indian Cricket Team batters after team’s defeat against South Africa Cricket Team in the first test in Kolkata. He also added that there is no issue with spin-friendly pitches for home games, however, the batters should be trained in advance for such wickets.

His comments arrive after India failed to chase down a low 124-run target in the first test against South Africa, getting bowled out for just 93 runs to lose the clash by 30 runs. At the end of the first innings, the hosts gained a 30-run lead and were looking positive to win the encounter. However, South Africa made a fabulous comeback to deny any chance of victory to India, dismissing their key batters for single digits.

Notably, the Eden Gardens pitch became a hot topic of discussion for being too bowling-friendly. The uneven bounce and extra turn took a big toll on batters as both sides failed to cross the 200-run mark across four innings. Moreover, Temba Bavuma was the only batter to score a half-century in the clash.

Yes, you can make turning wickets: Ajinkya Rahane

In a conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin on YouTube, Rahane noted that it is not wrong to prepare spin-friendly pitches for home test matches.

“In Tests, we make pitches that turn. But if you have quality spinners, yes, you can make turning wickets. However, you need to understand when they should start turning. If you want wickets that turn from Day 1, then you must have similar pitches in domestic cricket,” he said.

“Because if your players are going to play on such wickets in Test matches, they need to experience the same in domestic cricket. Domestically, we generally play on flat or seaming pitches. Very few have been rank turners. Yes, a couple of red-soil pitches assist turn, but that usually happens from Day 3 onwards. The first two days are good for batting,” he added.

However, the right-handed batter reckoned that batters should be well prepared to play on such spin-friendly wickets ahead of the test series. Citing examples of England and New Zealand, he added that a camp should be conducted ahead of home test campaigns.

“Why are we doing well overseas? Because our preparation for touring abroad is good. We play on seaming and bouncy wickets. But for spinning pitches, we haven’t prepared as well. So, it has been really challenging for our batters to play on such wickets. Yes, home advantage should be used. We need to bring the spinners into play. But we also need to prepare our batters. Hold a 10- to 15-day camp and start preparing for that,” he said.

“Look at England and New Zealand’s preparations. They had camps. England had a camp in Dubai. New Zealand camped in India. But we assemble only three or four days before a Test match and still expect our batters to do well?” he further added.

Notably, none of the Indian batters could score a half-century across both innings. While KL Rahul hit the highest score of 39 runs in the first innings, Washington Sundar (31) scored the most runs in the second innings.

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