‘Don't demand rank-turners if you can't play spin' - Ashwin takes brutal dig at Indian team for Kolkata Test loss

India were poor to say the least in the first match of the series against South Africa, where they embarrassingly failed to chase down a target of 124. Former players slammed the current batters’ ability to play spin, and rightly so. Meanwhile, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin stated that batters from the previous generations had better techniques than the current lot.

The spinner pointed out that to win in the subcontinent conditions, teams must handle spin far more effectively. He also recalled a similar situation last year, when India succumbed to a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of the touring New Zealand side, largely due to the spin threat posed by Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel.

“I am gonna stick my neck out and say in another game in an era where spin bowling was combated very well. I will take the names Amol Muzumdar and Mithun Manhas, who is the BCCI President, and I won’t take all the names, but Sachin Tendulkar in his prime, the God of Cricket. If these guys had played on the same wicket against spin, this game would have gone to four days," Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.

In a total of 16 batters, only three to four players have defended well. If you want to play on turning tracks, then your game against spin has to be good; otherwise, don’t play on such pitches as simple,” he added.

Ashwin noted that other teams are now better equipped to handle spin than the hosts, largely because they practise extensively for such conditions. The Chennai-born further pointed out that while India prepares thoroughly for pace when touring overseas, there is a clear lack of focused spin practice among Indian batters for home conditions.

“Most Western teams are better than India now because they come to India, they practice it a lot more, but we don’t practice enough of it. But we are superior players of fast bowling in many other venues right now because we consider that as a challenge, but not this. That is the difference,” Ashwin said.

The second Test of the series will be played from November 22 in Guwahati, and India must win this match to end the series on level terms.