Harbhajan Singh who was regarded as one of the finest spinners of the country in his playing days is not happy with the kind of pitches used for the India-New Zealand Test series. In the last two tests, the Indian spinners seemed to have struggled to the New Zealand spinners, as Indian batters could not seem to connect with the spin. Harbhajan was also not happy with the surfaces at Pune and Mumbai which were also seen as too dry and dusty when both teams hardly managed to make runs. Harbhajan who doubles up as a commentator expressed that India had even gone ahead to make unwise decisions while chasing a fourth innings target of just 146 and getting all out for 121 on the third test’s day 3,
“Dusro ke liye gaddha khoda tha, gir khud giye (dug a grave for someone else, but fell yourself)” was Harbhajan’s response when he spoke to ANI on spin friendly pitches being the excuse
“Australia will be tougher tour. However, the good thing about them is the pitches will be better for playing cricket. There were too many spin friendly conditions in the pitches here,” Harbhajan added.
“Test Match is not promoting the spirit of the game if it gets over in two and half to three days. It should last for five days of proper play from both sides in Test cricket. If we prepare these kind of pitches, sometimes one out of the teams will surely get an upper hand. These kinds of pitches should not be made too often,” Harbhajan said.
“I do, however, think that if India were to play on decent cricket pitches, batters would not perform in this manner,” he stated further.
Mitchell Santner achieved a remarkable feat during the second Test by taking 13 wickets and leading the Kiwis to a triumphant victory. In the absence of Santner during the third Test, Indian Calypso left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel managed to take 11 wickets and dismantled the Indian Order.
In the second and third Tests, both New Zealand and India failed to surpass the 300 marks in innings while India only managed to do so on one occasion when it batted in the first innings at Mumbai, scoring 250.
