NEW DELHI: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has delivered a pointed assessment of India’s recent batting struggles. His remarks follow the home whitewash against South Africa, a result that exposed how uncertain India’s batters have looked on their own spin friendly pitches.
Concern over batters losing touch with home conditions
Manjrekar suggested that the issues run deeper than short term form. He argued that players who dominate domestic cricket often lose their feel for Indian surfaces once they enter the national setup and spend long stretches overseas.
“There are two reasons India went down 0-3 to New Zealand and 0-2 to South Africa at home. And both teams beat India not by pace, swing or bounce but by spin,” he said on Instagram.
He added that frequent overseas tours turn established domestic performers into “NRI” cricketers who seldom return to face red ball spin in Indian conditions.
Lack of red ball match time at home
Manjrekar also highlighted the limited first class preparation of India’s younger core. While they have impressed abroad, he believes they are not getting the match exposure required to adjust when they come back.
“Looking at numbers, people like Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant play anything between nine to 12 Test matches away from home the last two years and in India not as many,” he said.
He added that these players often enter home Tests without recent domestic cricket on turning tracks, leaving them “poorly trained” for the demands of Indian pitches.
Manjrekar’s remarks point to a growing concern that India’s biggest batting challenges may now lie at home unless the current structure changes.
