Senior India batter Ajinkya Rahanefeels the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should ensure that domestic cricketers play on more rank-turners to become more accustomed to playing in spin-friendly
conditions. His remarks come after India were shot out for 189 and 93 in their 30-run defeat to South Africa in the first Test of the two-match series at the Eden Gardens.
Rahane highlighted how flat or seam-dominant the pitches in India's First-Class structure have generally been. He suggested that if India want to utilise home conditions to their advantage, the conditions in domestic cricket should change in the first place.
“In Tests, we make pitches that turn. However, you need to understand when they should start turning. If you want wickets that turn from Day 1, then you must have similar pitches in domestic cricket. If your players are going to play on such wickets in Test matches, they need to experience the same in domestic cricket. Domestically, we generally play on flat or seaming pitches. Very few have been rank turners. Yes, a couple of red-soil pitches assist turn, but that usually happens from Day 3 onwards,” stated Rahane in a video on Ashwin's YouTube channel.
Rahane countered Gautam Gambhir's take that the Kolkata collapse was batters' fault, underscoring the lack of practice camps held before home series. He took England and New Zealand's examples and concluded that Indian batters won't improve their game against spin if the situation remains as it is.
"Why are we doing well overseas? Because our preparation for touring abroad is good. We play on seaming and bouncy wickets. But for spinning pitches, we haven’t prepared as well. We need to prepare our batters. Hold a 10 to 15-day camp and start preparing for that. Look at England and New Zealand’s preparations. They had camps. England had a camp in Dubai. New Zealand camped in India. But we assemble only three or four days before a Test match and still expect our batters to do well,” he added.
For the unversed, Gambhir had suggested that instead of stressing over the pitch, the batters should look to take more responsibility and apply themselves better. His remarks drew mixed reactiosn from the cricket fraternity, with some suggesting that the pitches should be of a more balanced nature.
