IND vs NZ: "We need to defend better," Gautam Gambhir reckons T20 cricket has affected Indian batsmen

Gautam Gambhir opined that Indian batsmen’s skill against spin has not gone down.

Following India’s shock defeat on a spin-friendly track in Pune against New Zealand, India head coach Gautam Gambhir has defended his batsmen’s ability to play spin.

Since last year, India lost test matches in Indore to Australia, in Hyderabad to England and now in Pune to New Zealand on spin-friendly pitches where the hosts’ batters looked utterly clueless. This has raised concerning questions and doubts about the Indian batsmen’s adeptness to tackle spinners.

In Pune, where the hosts suffered a 113-run loss which sealed their first home series defeat since 2012, Mitchell Santner, who had never taken a test five-for, picked up 13 wickets in the match.

However, Gambhir reckons his batsmen don’t lack the skillset against spinners.

“Sometimes you’ve got to give it to the opposition as well. I think Mitchell Santner was outstanding in the last game, but yes, we’ll keep working hard. We’ll keep getting better. That’s about it. Guys are putting a lot of hard yards in the nets. Yes, ultimately it’s the results that matter when you’re playing international cricket, but I don’t think so that our skill against spin has actually gone down,” Gambhir said ahead of the third IND vs NZ test in Mumbai.

In T20 cricket, you’re so used to muscling the ball: Gautam Gambhir

The India head coach, though, admitted that his batsmen need to defend better and for longer. He feels the attacking approach of white-ball cricket, in particularly T20 cricket, has spilled into the batsmen’s test batting, resulting in them playing shots when they should patiently defend.

Gautam Gambhir asserted, “We need to defend better. I think that is something which is important. And especially on a turning track. Because if you’ve got confidence on your defence, a lot of things can be sorted. And that is something which we need to keep getting better, keep working on.

“Because, again, I’ll keep going back to the same answer that a lot has to do with limited over-cricket and T20 cricket as well that when you’re so used to muscling the ball, that you end up forgetting the soft hands and all that stuff, which probably used to happen eight or 10 years back.”

In the third test in Mumbai, India will look to avoid the ignominy of being white-washed for the first time in history at home in a test series of three or more games.

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