India have been found wanting against spinners in Test cricket. The second Test against New Zealand saw the dominance of Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips, with batters falling one after another. However, more than the rival bowlers, the batters deserve blame for their reckless batting.
Aakash Chopra inspected the pitch during the lunch break and revealed that nothing had changed. He blamed the Indian batters for their below-par performance.
“Let me make one thing clear, the pitch is similar to what we saw on Day 1 of the game. It is not a rank-turner, but there is some help for the bowlers. The batters didn’t try to spend time and went for shots which were never on. Shubman Gill missed the straight delivery and was given LBW. Virat Kohli was bowled on a full toss. Yashasvi Jaiswal couldn’t cover the line of the ball. Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan tried to be over-aggressive and paid the price.
“If you can’t bat on a slow-turning wicket, you should blame yourself. Spin has become a big problem for us, and we are not able to score runs against our rivals,” Aakash Chopra said on JioCinema.
The Kiwis scored 259 runs in their first innings in the ongoing match. India were bowled out for 156, with Santner taking seven wickets. The visitors were 168 for 4 in their second essay and 271 runs ahead of the Rohit Sharma-led team.
New Zealand defeated the Rohit Sharma-led team by eight wickets in the opening game in Bengaluru. India were bowled out for 46 and 462 in two innings.
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