"The pitches have spoilt the series", wrote Harsha Bhogle in The Indian Express after the 3rd India-South Africa Test. "This wicket is diabolical, nine legitimate wicket chances in the first hour with three plays and misses every over! #day2 #minefield", tweeted Glenn Maxwell on day 2 of the Nagpur Test. "Baffles me why our great game needs to tamper with conditions in favour for results. Amazing quality teams #letitbe," tweeted Matthew Hayden who described the pitch as a 'bunsen burner' few minutes later.
Virat Kohli has won his first home series as a captain, India have beaten the No 1 team in Tests, ended their marathon nine-year unbeaten away run but still, the one thing hogging limelight more than the others in the 22-yard strip.
Cheteshwar Pujara in action against South Africa. BCCI
Even before the series started, the debate about pitches had begun. The focus was more on the tracks than the players and the contest. With both the completed Tests getting over in three days, the pitches have come under a lot of criticism, so much so that even after India's series win in Nagpur, the post-match conferences were dominated by questions on the pitch rather than the win.
There is nothing wrong in preparing pitches for home advantage, all the countries do that. The pitches in the three India-South Africa Tests weren't extreme either, it's just that the batsmen from both the sides lacked application. But amidst all the heroics from Indian spinners and the pitch debate, the one thing that again went unnoticed is India's ability to play spin bowling.
In this series so far, 28 of the 40 Indian batsmen have fallen to the South African spinners. They average just 18.39 against spin. Yes, the spinners have been winning India the matches but Indian batsmen not performing well against is a bigger worry for the team.
While South Africa displayed their ineptitude against spin bowling, India too showed a lack of application and the result - 215 being the highest total so far and not a single century registered in the series.
On the third day of the Nagpur Test, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis showed that the pitches weren't unplayable if the batsmen showed patience and application.
"Nothing wrong with it [pitches produced for the Test series]," India team director Ravi Shastri told ESPNcricinfo. "I would hope the one in Delhi is absolutely the same. I have no qualms about it," he added.
Of course. It's a no-brainer that India will look to prepare spin-friendly pitches in future but what they should take care is that it doesn't backfire on them.
India's strength has always been its batting. Here, they were up against an inexperienced South African spin-bowling attack and still struggled. Before the start of the series, Simon Harmer had played just two Tests and Imran Tahir, who made his comeback to the Test side after a gap of nine months, had played just 16. But Tahir with 12 wickets at 13.25 and Harmer with 10 wickets at 25.40 in this series, have been made to look like Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan bowling on dust bowls.
It isn't that they were turning the ball square or were unplayable. The major difference between the Indian and South African spinners was the consistency and accuracy. Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra were immaculate with their lines and lengths and that helped build the pressure. On the other hand, Harmar and Tahir gave away too many gift balls and were inconsistent with their lines and lengths. Still, 28 Indian batsmen succumbed to spin, they have even struggled against part-time spinner Dean Elgar who has scalped five wickets at 12.60 so far.
This hasn't been the case only in this series, Indian batsmen have had problems against spin for some time now. In last 23 months (Since January 2014), India have the third-lowest average against spin bowling among top eight nations - 31.61, above West Indies (30.20) and South Africa (27.01). This, considering the fact that India have played most series away from home makes it more bewildering.
Last year, against England, India struggled against Moeen Ali, their batsmen averaged 23.75 against England spinners on England pitches while England averaged 44.07 against the Indian spinners in the five Tests. England bowlers had a strike rate of 42.2 compared to India's 94. Then against Australia, they struggled against the spin of Nathan Lyon who ended up as the highest wicket-taker in the series. Indian batsmen averaged 38.95 against Australian spinners on Australian pitches, one the other hand, Australian batsmen averaged 59.29 against the Indian spinners who had a strike rate of 98.3 compared to India's 63.
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Generally Asian batsmen are considered to be better players of spin bowling. The pitches in Asia are conducive to spin bowling. If we take a look at performances of the four Asian teams in Asia - India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh - against spin bowling in the last 23 months, India averages the least - 29.53. Pakistan averages the highest with 47.10, next up is Bangladesh at 37.92 and then Sri Lanka at 33.58.
In 2012, when England toured India for a four-Test series, India had prepared spin-friendly pitches. But the England spinners outperformed their Indian counterparts. In Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar they had the quality to rip through any opposition. The English batsmen had the quality but the most important thing was they were prepared to face Indian spinners. The likes of Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen were ready to grind it out in the middle, they applied themselves really well, they had the quality in spin department and batting and hence they managed to win the series 2-1.
On a spinning and bouncing Wankhede track, Pietersen played what probably was one of his best innings till date as he hit 186 off 233 balls. On a sluggish pitch in Nagpur, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell hit crucial centuries in tricky situation in the second innings to enforce a draw and clinch the series. India had five specialist spinners in the squad in that tour - Pragyan Ojhan, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin but still, the England batsmen got the better of them.
In this series, the South African batsmen had the quality in Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf Du Plessis and JP Duminy who have shown earlier that they can bat for hours and hours but apart from De Villiers, none of them showed the application. Their spinners weren't world class either. But there will be times when there could be a repeat of 2012, there will be times when a country will tour India with better spinners, there will be times when the opposition batsmen will show application at the crease, there will be times when the Indian spinners will have a tough time, there will be times when one great innings from the opposition batsman will turn the game around and that's the time when India will really struggle if their batsmen don't perform against the spin bowlers, just like in 2012.
India's struggle against spinners away from home is an even bigger concern, where the Indian spinners might not be as effective, and this is where the batsmen will have to step-up.
Kohli acknowledged the fact that they need to improve against spin after the Nagpur Test, "We as a team feel we have to improve our play against spin as well. These are the conditions we get in subcontinent and we have to play a lot of Test matches [in the subcontinent] in future as well. So, as a team in future, this is a learning phase as well for us. We need to step up our game in order to win Test matches like we have done this time."
In the period between 1990 and 2011, India averaged 44.97 against spinners - highest amongst all the teams and apart from Australia (41.79), no other team averaged more than 40 against spin. The marked fall in batting averages against against spinners is clearly visible now.
After the South Africa series, India have a long home season ahead, they will have England, New Zealand and Australia touring in the next couple of years. Just like the South Africa series, the pitch-talk will again dominate headlines. India might have won the series against South Africa but it wasn't a flawless performance. To make sure that spin-friendly pitches don't backfire, India will need to master the art of playing spin all over again.
