‘Skipping domestic cricket reflects in poor spin play’ - Sunil Gavaskar blasts India after South Africa defeat

Modern Indian batters appear more comfortable facing world-class pace than quality spin. The Kolkata Test against South Africa once again exposed India’s vulnerability to spin, as the team management’s call, led by Gautam Gambhir, to ask for a turning track backfired.

With Indian batters visibly struggling, former cricketer R Ashwin did not hesitate to point out that players from some Western countries now play spin better than many Indians. Adding to this discussion, legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar has also offered an explanation for why this trend has emerged.

"We are not the best spin going around in the world at this point in time. 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 on his YouTube channel.

The cricketer-turned-commentator has repeatedly advocated a stronger connection with domestic cricket, yet he did not shy away from pointing out how many Indian players avoid participating in the Ranji Trophy even when their schedules allow it. Expecting them to excel on turning tracks, conditions commonly found in domestic cricket, then becomes unrealistic.

"A lot of our players do not play domestic cricket. If you play domestic cricket, you will get to play on such pitches, right? Because even at the domestic level, teams are trying to get the points so that they qualify for the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy, which means that there will be pitches where the ball will grip and turn a little bit. But none of our players are playing that. None of our current players. How many of our current players actually deign to go down and play Ranji Trophy?,” said Gavaskar on Sports Tak.

Gavaskar has also been a consistent critic of workload management for players. In his view, a national cricketer should be prepared to play every match for the country whenever the call comes. He has often argued that missing Ranji Trophy games under the pretext of workload management is unacceptable, emphasising that such decisions only hamper a player’s growth and readiness.

"No, they don't because there's this word called workload. Workload is the word. They don't want to play. They don't want to play. They only want to play in the Ranji Trophy if they are out of form. Otherwise, they don't want to play. So that is the answer. Maybe you want to look at, you know, preparing a pitch where the ball will grip and turn a little bit. Then you want to pick guys who are playing domestic cricket. We do not really want to play guys who are playing international cricket because they don't have the practice against such kind," said Gavaskar.