India's star batters have lost a lot of confidence over the years by playing on rank turners, with their home averages taking a beating and affecting their careers adversely, feels former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan said Ajinkya Rahane is a case in point after India lost their first Test series in 12 years. On a Pune turner against New Zealand, India lost a crucial toss and managed only 156 and 245 with the Black Caps' lead spinner Mitchell Santner taking 13 wickets. "If you have had great record at home for so long and if you lose, obviously there will be chatter. Credit to New Zealand for playing the way they did and these were alien conditions and also not a pitch where wear and tear was natural.
"It was a tailor-made condition for spinners where ball was supposed to turn from first hour," Harbhajan told PTI in an interaction.
A straight shooter, Harbhajan questioned the thought process of the Indian team, which is proving to be counter-productive.
"Look at the trend during last decades. We are playing mostly on turners through the last decade with the hope that we will win the toss, score 300 and control the game.
"But we don't know if we are at the receiving end, if we have the batting to wriggle out on turners. Our batters have lost a lot of confidence playing on these tracks. The biggest example is Ajinkya Rahane, a fine player. His career suffered because of these kind of surfaces," Harbhajan was cut-throat in his assessment.
One of the country's finest off-spinners, he elaborated how batters lose confidence.
"We always get into whataboutery that they (SENA countries) also prepare pitches as per their needs but those aren't pitches where you can't even bat. Those pitches go through natural wear and
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India Cricket Team
Virat Kohli
Ajinkya Rahane
Harbhajan Singh