Looking at India's struggles against spin in the recent past

Lyon turned 1st Test of India’s 2014-15 tour of Australia on its head

Spin trouble down under

The horrific Australian tour of 2011-12 wherein India were whitewashed for the second time, in the space of six months was at the back of every Indian’s mind.

The line-up bore a fresh look than what it was in the previous tour with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma coming into the line-up and playing their maiden Test series down under.

While pace was expected to be India's nemesis, with the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc leading the Australian bowling attack, what came as a surprise, especially on abrasive Australian surfaces was Nathan Lyon’s exploits.

Lyon burst onto the scenes with a 12-wicket haul in the first Test in Adelaide wherein the Indian batsmen gave their wickets away by trying to hit the spinner out of the park, identifying him as the weakest link in the attack.

Again, some irresponsible stroke play and lack of proper technique was what cost India the first Test, and took the glory away from Virat Kohli’s heroic twin hundreds. In the second innings of the second Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, the Indian batting faltered thereby giving Australia an unassailable lead in the tournament.

The Test matches mentioned above were played against sides not known conventionally for their spinners as much as they are known for their fast bowlers. Hence, it wasn’t just a case of quality spin bowling getting the better of the Indian batting.

Imran Tahir fulfilled the role of the strike spinner to perfection for South Africa against India in 2015

Frailties exposed at home

If those were some indications to go by, the series back in the subcontinent against Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2015 were indications of the fact that the Indians were now getting stuck in a web that they previously used to knit for their opponents.

Although India won both the series, but that must not take the sheen away from batsmen’s incapability to read the line of the delivery, to read the variations, play the ball as late as possible, and playing close to the body.

In the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle in August, Tharindu Kaushal and Rangana Herath combined to snatch a victory for a dilapidated Lankan team from the jaws of defeat.

Kaushal picked up a 5-wicket haul in the first innings, two of which included Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane missing the line of the delivery and getting trapped before the stumps, while Herath ran through the Indian batting in the second innings, picking up 7 wickets after an inspired hundred by Dinesh Chandimal had given Sri Lanka a lead of 176 runs.

The Indians looked confused on the pitch, and were either failing to read the variations coming out of Herath’s hands, or were just trying to bail themselves out of trouble by attacking the spinner, but with lackadaisical foot movement and no timing.

The veteran ended up with 15 wickets from 3 matches while his younger teammate Kaushal grabbed 13 wickets.

It was the counter-attack with the ball by the Indian spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra, and a few magical spells of aggressive fast bowling by Ishant Sharma, along with the timely hundreds by Kohli, Rahane, Pujara and KL Rahul that helped India win the series.

Back in India, in the much-maligned-for-no-reason series against the Proteas, the Indian top order was again seen dancing to the tunes of not just the spinners- Imran Tahir and Simon Harmer- but also of the part-timers in Dean Elgar.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s dismissals in the first and the third Tests in Mohali and Nagpur were good examples of this, as he played down the wrong line and either got bowled or was trapped leg-before-wicket.

Only two centuries were scored throughout the series- both by Rahane in the 4th Test- and there were just 4 fifties by Indian batsmen in 4 Tests. Until the 3rd Test, the highest Indian team total in the series was 215 and 34 out of the 55 Indian wickets that fell in the 3 Tests that had results were taken by spinners.

Mitchell Santner has been a revelation for New Zealand ever since he made his debut last year

Effects in the World T20 2016

Over four years, since the departure of the famed Indian batting core, the ability of the next generation of Indian batters to play the turning ball stood exposed. Seemingly, India did not learn their lessons from that, and it cost them the tournament opener against New Zealand in the ICC World T20 2016.

Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and Nathan McCullum exploited the spin-friendly conditions in Nagpur and the Indians were beaten by the flight and the turn that the deliveries garnered, resulting in a humiliating loss to the Kiwis after being bowled out for 79.

Thankfully, some patient, persistent and classy batting display by Virat Kohli in the next three games helped the hosts qualify for the semi-final, but should India and New Zealand meet again in the final on April 3 at the Eden Gardens, the recurrence of the aforementioned event cannot be denied.

There have been improvements, though, much of which could be attributed to the World T20. Challenging conditions in terms of surfaces have been presented to the players, and although Kohli has been the only guy to have emerged out victorious, consistent tests being put into practice in the upcoming plethora of Test matches that India are scheduled tom play at home (against New Zealand (3), against England (5), and against Australia (4)) might help.

It remains to be seen, however, as to how quickly the Indian batsmen adjust to the change and accept that they are not as good as they used to be as a team against spin bowling. Acceptance of the flaw is the first step towards rectifying it, and the process might as well begin now.