5 reasons why young Indian batsmen struggle against spin

Traditionally, Indian batsmen have been prominent against spin. They have set a benchmark on how to play spin and their wonderful ability to judge lengths and pace of the spinners have enabled them to win the tag of the finest players of spin bowling.

The superiority of Indian batsmen against spinners is one of the reasons why India have been so dominant at home soil.

In recent times though, young Indian batsmen have been found wanting against quality spin. Bowlers like Nathan Lyon, Rangana Herath, Moeen Ali, to name a few, have fancied bowling against Indian batsmen.

Here, we look at 5 possible reasons that explain why Indian batsmen have become vulnerable against spin:

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#1 Nature of pitches in Domestic Cricket

Pitches in domestic cricket have become seamer friendly

India's dismal performances overseas meant that some drastic steps had to be taken. One of the reasons for India's failure overseas was the vulnerability of their batsmen against swing and seam.

The pitches in domestic games are now being prepared in such a manner that they have a decent covering of grass to aid swing bowling. This is primarily done to make young Indian batsmen better equipped against swing and seam.

The batsmen have to adjust their game accordingly to survive and hence, they focus more on facing the swing bowlers who are more of a threat than the spinners on such kind of pitches. This is reducing their efficiency against spin.

#2 Quality of spinners in domestic circuit

Indian Spinners are Inspired by T20 cricket

With all due respect to them, the spinners in Indian domestic circuit are highly inspired by T20 cricket. They are dependent on batsmen making mistakes rather than them forcing the batsmen to do so.

Of course, this has to do a lot with the nature of pitches they play on, but they rely heavily on natural variation from the pitch. They are phenomenal performers in the limited overs game but when it comes to four day or five day games, they still need a lot to learn to match the quality of spinners in International cricket.

The quality of spin bowling is completely different in Indian domestic cricket from International cricket and so, the Indian batsmen find it hard to adjust against quality spinners.

#3 Minimum use of the feet

One of the characteristics that stood out when Indian batsmen flourished against spin was their exceptional use of feet. They had the wonderful ability to step down the track and play strokes all around the ground against the spinners.

This would force the bowler to drop his length and they would be more than ready to play off the back foot. Young Indian batsmen, however, are inclined to play from the crease. They try to hit big without using their feet too much and this plays into the hands of the spinners who can now set the batsmen up and bowl to a plan.

#4 Overconfidence against spinners

Young Indian batsmen are overconfident against the spinners

One of the reasons for the decline of Indian batsmen against spin is their overconfidence. They presume that they can hit at will against them which ultimately plays into the hands of the spinners.

When the spinners come on, Indian batsmen look to hit them out of the bowling attack and with the quality of spinners that there is in international cricket, it does not take much of an effort on the part of the spinners to get the better of the batsmen.

The perfect example is the match between India and New Zealand at the T20 World Cup in 2016 when Mitchell Santner ran through the Indian batting lineup. He picked up four wickets and gave away just 11 runs. The batsmen tried to hit their way out but Santner eventually got the better of them.

#5 The advent of T20 Cricket

T20 cricket has changed the game

Nowadays, the first instinct of the batsmen is to attack rather than to defend. They look to maximize every scoring opportunity and take risks even when the situation isn't favourable.

The techniques and mindsets of the batsmen have completely changed and they have made their game suitable for an attacking style of play.

The young Indian batsmen are following the same trend and they look to attack from the very first ball. They fail to pick the variations that spinners have as they have become one-dimensional in their pursuit of increasing the scoring rates.