Senior batsman Ajinkya Rahane criticized the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management for opting for spin-friendly pitches for the home Tests when the Indian batsmen are not preparing enough to play on such a surface. The 37-year-old, who has captained India on similar grounds in the past, pointed out that batsmen do not get many opportunities to play spins as there is a dearth of such wickets in domestic cricket.
countered Rahane Gambhir’s take on India’s loss to South Africa in the first Test in Kolkata, he said it was unfair to blame the batsmen when the Eden Gardens pitch proved difficult for both sides.
India lost the series opener in Kolkata by 30 runs when they failed to chase down 124 in the final innings. Neither side managed to cross the 200-run mark even once in a Test that ended in two-and-a-half days. Head coach Gautam Gambhir defended the pitch, although critics questioned its extreme nature as the batsmen struggled with uneven bounce and excessive spin. Gambhir insisted that regardless of how the wicket played out, he expected his batsmen to chase 124 in the final innings.
Speaking on R. Ashwin’s YouTube show, Rahane noted that Indian batsmen are no longer equipped to play such spins due to the changing nature of home pitches, which are usually either flat or pacer-friendly.
“In Tests, we produce pitches that turn. But if you have quality spinners, yes, you can do turner wickets. But you have to understand when they should start turning. If you want wickets that turn from day one, you have to have similar pitches in domestic cricket,” Rahane said.
“Because if your players are going to play on such wickets in Test matches, they need to experience the same in domestic cricket. In domestic environment, we usually play on flat or pressed pitches. Very few of them have turned the ranks. Yes, a few red pitches assist the turn, but that usually happens from Day 3 onwards. The first two days are good for batting,” he added.
“Also, when you play on pitches that are spin-friendly, you have to prepare differently.
“I think we can’t blame the players here. They haven’t played on such goals. They don’t even train on such pitches in practice,” he said.
“KEEP A 10 DAY CAMP BEFORE HOME TESTS”
Rahane also pointed out that overseas teams prepare better for Test matches in India. He said Indian teams were not giving their batsmen enough time to adapt to spin-friendly conditions and urged the management to consider 10-15-day camps before each Test series.
“Why are we doing well overseas? Because our preparation for the foreign tour is good. We play swing and bounce wickets,” he said.
“But we didn’t prepare that well for the spinning pitch.
“So it was really challenging for our batsmen to play on such wickets. Yes, the home advantage should be used. We need to bring spinners into the game. But we also need to prepare our batsmen.”
“Have a 10- to 15-day camp and start preparing for it.
“Look at the preparation of England and New Zealand. They had camps. England had a camp in Dubai. New Zealand camped in India.”
“But we only gather three or four days before a Test match and still expect our batting to be good?” he added.
As Rahane noted, South Africa arrived in India after playing two Test matches at Pakistan grounds. India, meanwhile, flew straight to Kolkata after playing the white-ball series in Australia.
Some of the Test members who were not part of the Australian tour – like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel – played a four-day match for India A against South Africa A in Bengaluru, albeit on a flat pitch.
Captain Shubman Gill arrived in Kolkata from Brisbane on Saturday and began training on Monday for the Test which began the following Thursday. Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel followed a similar plan.
South African off-spinner Simon Harmer caused havoc in Calcuttataking eight wickets while Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen also troubled the Indian batsmen. India further suffered in the absence of captain Gill, who injured his neck on Day 2 and did not bat in the second innings.
India will be without Gill for the second Teststarting on November 22 in Guwahati. They will be looking to avoid another series fade away with memories of last year’s 0-3 defeat to New Zealand still lingering.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
November 21, 2025
