Practice, spend time and play domestic cricket – these have been the common recommendations from former cricketers, experts and even fans for Indian batters to improve their game against spin. India came up short on turning tracks in Pune and Mumbai and lost the three-match Test series 0-3, their first-ever whitewash at home. In four innings, the Indian team was shot out for scores of 156, 245, 263 and 121 and there are serious concerns with the ability to play spin for the likes of Virat Kohli and Sarfaraz Khan in particular as skipper Rohit Sharma was getting out to pacers even before spin got introduced.
For a couple of days, an old clip of former India cricketer and ex-Member of Parliament, Navjot Singh Sidhu, is going viral on social media where he is explaining how to play spin better and his method with Shane Warne and Wasim Akram alongside him. Now on Wednesday, November 6, Sidhu quoted the clip while issuing a four-point advisory for the current crop of the Indian batters to handle spin.
Sidhu began his advice with a suggestion of the batter stepping out when the bowler is at the point of delivery and watching the wrist till the end.
“Playing spin on turning tracks – 1 stepping out often to the spinner to clutter his mind , keep him guessing,” Sidhu wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “2 ensure that you step out when he is at a point of no return (point of delivery) , it comes with instinct and hours of practice 3 watch his wrist like a hawk till the end [for] to you code the delivery.
“4 small initial forward movement – allows you to play the ball late and adjust going back and forth …. Lunge or commit you’re at the bowlers mercy and in no position to attack – a dying duck in a thunder storm,” Sidhu added.
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Chasing 147 in the fourth innings, each one of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Kohli, Sarfaraz and Ravindra Jadeja failed to counter spin. Only Rishabh Pant fought a lone and valiant battle but wasn’t enough as India fell short by 21 runs.
