While discussing India’s predicament during the lunch discussion on BYJU’s Cricket Live, Simon Doull dived into the state of Indian batting against spinners.

While India ended the fourth day on top, they were bailed out by their lower order after a collective top-order failure. India slipped to 51-5 during the morning session, but recovered to declare on 234-7.

While only one India wicket fell to spin, with Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee doing the bulk of the damage, Ajinkya Rahane’s dismissals against Ajaz Patel set Doull off. “He’s a better player than that. His dismissals against spin since 2019, you look at those, outside the line of off-stump, a lot of full deliveries. So, he’s getting lbw with the one that’s skidding on, he’s nicked off, or he’s chipping one to cover, mid-off and those areas. So, those are the dismissals against spin he would be worried about.”

He then went to talk about Indian batters in general. “Normally you’d think Indian players, Indian conditions, better players of spin. I don’t think by any stretch the current crop of Indian players are anywhere near the quality of players of spin of years gone by. The Laxmans, the Dravids, the Sachins, and Gautam Gambhir. Players like that who were just brilliant players of spin. I don’t think the current crop are as good.”

After indicting the current lot, he went on to wonder why. “Now, is that because the current crop of spinners don’t play domestic cricket – the top quality ones, the Jadejas, the Ashwins, the Axar Patels – so the batters are not facing top quality spin? Or are the batsmen not playing enough domestic cricket to face top quality spin?”

Doull himself wasn’t sure as to what the reason was, and wondered if the Indian players were playing enough domestic cricket or not.

Irfan Pathan believed that there were two reasons for the same. According to him, around 2018 India started putting lot of grass on the pitches in domestic cricket, and that took spinners out of the game. He also believed lot of players were facing side-arm bowling at high pace quite regularly in the nets, and that didn’t help with their foot movement.