Top 5 instances of Indian batsmen failing on Indian pitches

The Indian cricket team is known for being a powerhouse at home and many teams consider the tour to be one of the toughest. India have traditionally had a great batting unit and they have delivered in home conditions where and when required. Can a batting lineup with the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and later on with Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli ever fail, that too on flat belters in the country?

It does not look like so. But then again cricket is a funny game and a great leveler. It can propel you to greatness but can often drag you low too. Here we look at five instances when the Indian batsmen failed on Indian pitches.

5) 101 vs Sri Lanka in Pune

Earlier, this year India had played a T20 series against Sri Lanka. In the first T20 the famed Indian batting lineup which included the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni collapsed like a pack of cards at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (MCA) scoring just 101 in 18.5 overs.

The Indian batsmen struggled right from the outset with Rohit and Shikhar going back to the dug out. They could not quite recover from the jolt and succumbed to the wily Sri Lankan bowling.Sri Lanka too tottered a bit in their chase but got over the line with five wickets and two overs to spare.

4) 100 vs West Indies in Ahmedabad

Carl Hooper picked up 3/9 in the contest

West Indies had come to India in 1993 to play the Hero Cup. In the sixth One-Day International of the series West Indies had scored a mere 202/7 in their 50 overs. Many believed India would easily get to the target but back then West Indies still had fast bowling greats like Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose in their playing XI.

The duo claimed three wickets with Walsh trapping Sachin Tendulkar for just two runs. The islanders then skittled out India for just 100 in 28.3 overs with off spinning all-rounder Carl Hooper picking up figures of 3/9 from his four overs. In the final when these two sides locked horns again India grabbed a sweet revenge, winning by a massive margin of 102 runs.

3) 92 vs South Africa in Cuttack

Albie Morkel was the wrecker-in-chief with 3/12

South Africans have always had a great bowling unit. They lived upto their reputation on a flat wicket too at Cuttack in October 2015 when they bowled out India for just 92 runs in 17.2 overs in a T20 game. The opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan had put on a stand of 28 runs but after the pair’s dismissal there were no other partnership of sorts.

Veteran pacer Albie Morkel was the wrecker-in-chief with his figures of 3/12. Imran Tahir and Chris Morris too chipped in with two wickets each.South Africa’s chase was a cake walk as they got home with six wickets and almost three overs remaining.

2) 79 vs New Zealand in Nagpur

The New Zealand players celebrate Shikhar Dhawan’s dismissal

In a track where Indian spinners thought they will have the New Zealand batsmen on the mat, the reverse happened. The Kiwi tweakers spun a web around the Indian batting on a strip that turned square in India’s opener at the World T20 earlier this year. India first restricted New Zealand to just 126 from their quota of 20 overs and the whole country believed they would chase it down without much of a trouble.But then it was the New Zealand spinners who turned the game on its head.

Only Virat Kohli (23), captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30) and Ravichandran Ashwin (10) got into double figures. The rest folded up without much of a resistance. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner returned the best figures with 4/11. Leg-Spinner Ish Sodhi picked up 3/18 and Nathan McCullum accounted for two Indian wickets. In total, the Kiwi spinners picked up 9 wickets with India losing by 47 runs.

1) 78 vs Sri Lanka in Kanpur

Arjuna Ranatunga had picked up figures of 4/14 in the game

It was Sri Lanka who batted first in the One-Day International at the Green Park in December 1986.Their batting struggled a bit but they got to a challenging total of 195/8. In those days 195 was quite defendable and the visitors had a great bowling line up.

The Indians struggled right from the start with the ‘little master’ Sunil Gavaskar returning back to the pavilion after scoring just two runs. Kris Srikkanth and Dilip Vengsarkar tried to bail their team out of trouble but failed. The middle and lower order too contributed in single digit scores as India were bowled out for just 78.For Sri Lanka surprisingly a young Arjuna Ranatunga had bagged figures of 4/14 from his six overs.