‘We dented their confidence’: Harbhajan Singh blames Test pitches in India for batters’ struggles

sanjeev

khelja|31-08-2024

New Delhi: Team India batters struggled against spinners during the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. The Men in Blue lost their first bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka since 1997. The Indian batters were troubled by Jefferey Vandersay, Dunith Wellalage and Charith Asalanka.
  After the series loss, cricket fans and experts criticised Indian batters and their inability to play spin. Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh also shared his thoughts on the matter and said that Team India started playing on turning pitches because they wanted to win. He also said that if BCCI would have produced good pitches then Indian batters shoul have gotten time to settle in. “We’ve started playing on pitches that turn a lot more. We wanted to win and we did win but we wanted to win in two and a half days. I think, if we had produced normal pitches that started to turn from Day 3 and Day 4, we still would have won but the batters would have gotten time to settle in. And we wouldn’t be discussing the problems of our batters against spinners. We dented the confidence of our batters because anybody get out (cheaply) on those pitches” Harbhajan told Sports Tak. The Indian pitches were criticised by many former cricketers during the Australia series in 2023 where the first three matches ended within just three days. The ICC match referee Javagal Srinath also gave a below-average rating to the Bengaluru pitch which was used in the pink ball Test against Sri Lanka. But the pitches improved during the five-match home Test series against England. Team India to face Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia in Tests Rohit Sharma and Co. will face Bangladesh in the two-match home Test series starting September 19. After that, The Men in Blue will take on New Zealand in the three-match Test series. Team India will face Australia in the five-match Test series in late November.
Latest Newsmore