• Source:JND
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IND vs SA 2nd Test: R Ashwin has criticised the Indian batters in the Test series against South Africa and said that they have become one of the worst players of spin, and he also revealed why he said that. They lost to South Africa in Guwahati on Wednesday, where they suffered a 408-run loss and also lost the series. In this two-match Test series, the Protea spinners, especially Simon Harmer, had a dream run against India.

Harmer took 17 wickets, whereas Keshav Maharaj took seven as the Indian batters were seen struggling in Kolkata and Guwahati. This was quite similar to how they played against New Zealand's Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel last year. In an interaction on Ash Ki Baat, Ashwin revealed why the Indian batters were seen struggling against spin lately.

Ashwin revealed that neutral curators are making pitches for first-class cricket here. He also revealed that although this has helped the team perform better in overseas conditions and face fast bowlers brilliantly, it has made them weak against spin.

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"And in this day and age, we are probably one of the poorest spin-playing nations in the world as a batting unit. How did this happen overnight? There is a reason for this — we’ve talked about it earlier", Ashwin quoted as saying on Ash Ki Baat.

"Neutral curators completely control our first-class cricket in every venue. The reason for neutral curators is to stop really bad wickets from being prepared. But what that has also done — along with the attempt to help India play fast and seam bowling better — is weaken our spin-batting skills. The intention was good, and that’s why we now play well abroad. But in home conditions, you have to play spin well," he added.

'SA PLAYED ATTRITIONAL TEST CRICKET'

Ashwin emphasised that the Temba Bavuma-led side had played brilliantly in this format, and that's how they beat the hosts at their home.

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"When you talk about playing spin, you don’t start sweeping and reverse-sweeping. You build your game around solid defence. If South Africa can score 80 runs per session and put 500-plus on the board for you to chase in the final innings, they have beaten you with attritional Test cricket — the kind that has to be played in India," he said.

"Attritional Test cricket. At least New Zealand stayed busy and tried to put pressure on us. South Africa didn’t. They played pure attritional Test cricket: 80 runs a session, high-quality pressure with the ball, good field sets, and long spells for the spinners," he concluded.

South Africa had won their first Test series in India after 25 years. And as far as the host are concerned, this was their biggest home Test series loss as far as the margin of runs is concerned.

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