There was a lot of talk about the pitch ever since India lost the first Test in Bengaluru. The Pune player was supposed to be a turner who would aggressively help the spinners. It didn’t turn out that way in the end, but the Indian batsmen left no stone unturned to make it look diabolical.

All nine wickets on the second day fell to spinners who are not even regular players in Test cricket: Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips. Before this game, Santner had a Test average of 42.16 and his strike rate of 91.66 was the worst for a bowler with at least 50 wickets since his debut. Phillips provides control but should still be manageable for Asian hitters.

The perennial decline against the turn

But Indian batsmen don’t really boast of handling spinners well on a track with the slightest help to slow bowlers. Let’s go back to the Ranchi Test against England earlier this year. After batting first, England scored 353 on a slow turn but India were reduced to 177/7 and almost fell well short of the target before Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav came to the rescue.

England had one of the most inexperienced spin attacks, but India did not manage them well at any point, and each time, some brilliant singles saved the day. Obviously, the England players played well, but that doesn’t mean India didn’t play badly. There were hasty shots everywhere.

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There is a sense of vulnerability around the way India fights misrepresentation. A few broken deliveries erode your composure; They hesitate and start trying too many things. Somehow, they try to hit boundaries and impose themselves on those spinners as if that is the only way to operate.

Sure, that’s one way to counter the effect, but only on those who change rank when attacking is the only way to survive. Going after every ball and playing reckless shots is not the Indian way of playing spin. They overlook good deliveries in an attempt to alter lines and lengths.

New Zealand have been smart enough to play on the egos of the Indian batsmen. Take Sarfaraz Khan’s dismissal in the first innings for example. Mitchell Santner deliberately bowled a floater in the line outside off stump keeping a defender deep in the middle, and Sarfaraz missed one while trying to clear that defender and was killed.

Where is the confidence in the defense? The ideal method is not to fall for the bait and pounce on the loose things, which will surely arrive after a certain time. This happened to someone touted as one of the best spin players; imagine the state of others.