As many as 12 Indian wickets fell to spin in Kolkata.
Familiar issues for India resurfaced during the Kolkata Test against South Africa, where Simon Harmer ran through Indian batters on a treacherous batting surface. The track heavily suited spinners, but Gautam Gambhir felt Indian batters could have done a lot better technique-wise.
As India gear up for the second Test in Guwahati, where they can’t afford another hiccup, batters focused on different aspects of improving against spinners, with the likes of Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel, and Washington Sundar actively involved in the net session. According to Cricbuzz, Sudharsan, who might replace Shubman Gill in the XI, started in the fast bowling nets, where Akash Deep was operating, after taking instructions from the batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.
After an hour, the southpaw moved to spin bowling nets, where he batted with an intent to sweep the off-spinners with big strides forward and came down the track against left-arm spinners bowling from round the stumps. Later, Gambhir called him for some technical advice about his front foot game, and the batter again went to the nets for more hits.
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Sudharsan’s front foot game has been vulnerable at times, for he tends to go on the back foot against slow bowlers, which makes him susceptible to fuller-length deliveries. The batting coach highlighted the issue during the West Indies series, and a conscious effort to improve has clearly been visible.
Simon Harmer was unplayable for Indian batters in the opening Test, as he took eight wickets across two innings. To counter his off-spin variety, Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja faced Washington Sundar for around half an hour in the nets.
Harmer dismissed both batters twice in Kolkata, even though they are decent players of spin. Jurel also had a session with Kotak, who bowled him from a shortened distance, as the batter kept playing reverse sweeps on them.
Later, he also tackled two net spinners, an off-spinner and a left-arm spinner, who fed him from around three-quarters of the length of the net, with reverse sweeps for about 20 minutes. Clearly, his focus was on expanding his shots and range against slow bowlers.
Meanwhile, Washington Sundar had an extended batting session, focusing on leaving deliveries and getting behind the line of the ball, something he did effectively in the first Test. India will hope to put on a better batting show against spinners in Guwahati after folding cheaply twice in the last fixture.
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