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NEW DELHI: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar expressed his disappointment with the Indian team’s batting performance during their loss to New Zealand in the second Test at Pune.
The defeat led to India’s first home series loss in 12 years, as the Kiwi spin attack, spearheaded by Mitchell Santner, who claimed 13 wickets in the match, outplayed the hosts in their own spin-friendly conditions.
New Zealand secured the series 2-0 with a game to spare, winning the second Test by 113 runs.Manjrekar pointed out that Virat Kohli, once again, misjudged the length of Santner’s delivery, while skipper Rohit Sharma appeared underconfident against spin.
He believes that three out of the top four Indian batsmen lack confidence when facing spin bowling.
Manjrekar suggests that India should have relied more on their defensive techniques and avoided losing early wickets.
“Virat Kohli once again misread the length. The ball was much fuller than he anticipated and came back into him sharply. Rohit Sharma was not confident at the crease. There are a lot of guys, top 3 out of 4 who are short of confidence against spin. On pitches like these, you see that it is difficult to bat vs spin in first session and a half,” Manjrekar said.
“I think that if India backed their defence a little more, things could have gotten easier. If India had not lost too many wickets earlier, this game could have been much closer with Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja being around,” he said.
Manjrekar also mentioned that he thought India could stage a surprise comeback when Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill were batting together.
However, he observed that Gill struggles to read spinners and feels pressured when facing them on turning pitches.
“When Yashasvi and Shubman were going together, I thought that there would be a surprise around the corner. Shubman Gill clearly does not have the feel for spinners. You know batters, who can work with their footwork instinctively, he clearly is under pressure when he is playing spinners on turning pitches,” Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.
India and New Zealand will now head to Mumbai for the third and final Test, beginning November 1, at the Wankhede Stadium.