Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar expressed disappointment with Team India’s batting during their 113-run defeat to New Zealand in the second Test of the series in Pune, which led to the hosts’ first-ever series loss at home in 12 years.
The Indian batters struggled a lot against Kiwi spinner Mitchell Santner throughout the match and the bowler ended up with a total of 13 wickets in the Test. Other spinners like Glenn Phillips and Ajaz Patel also contributed well throughout the match for the visitors.
Manjrekar remarked that batter Shubman Gill does not have a “feel for spinners” and feels pressure while playing them on turning pitches.
“When Yashasvi and Shubman were going together, I thought that there would be a surprise around the corner. Shubman Gill clearly does not have the feel for spinners. You know batters, who can work with their footwork instinctively, he clearly is under pressure when he is playing spinners on turning pitches,” Manjrekar said.
Manjrekar also said that Virat Kohli once again misread the length of Santner’s delivery and skipper Rohit Sharma felt underconfident on the crease against spinners. He feels that 3 out of the top 4 Indian batters are short of confidence against spin.
“Virat Kohli once again misread the length. The ball was much fuller than he anticipated and came back into him sharply. Rohit Sharma was not confident at the crease. There are a lot of guys, top 3 out of 4 who are short of confidence against spin. On pitches like these, you see that it is difficult to bat vs spin in first session and a half,” Manjrekar said.
“I think that if India backed their defense a little more, things could have gotten easier. If India had not lost too many wickets earlier, this game could have been much closer with Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja being around,” Manjrekar added.
