Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra shared his thoughts on India’s performance in home conditions in recent times. Notably, India lost their first Test series at home since 2012 when New Zealand whitewashed them 0-3. It is also the first time the Asian giants have suffered a 0-3 whitewash in their history of Test cricket at home.

India were undone by New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santer and Ajaz Patel in the second and third Tests respectively. Santner took his career-best 13 wickets in Pune and later Ajaz picked 11 wickets to bring the Indian batting to its knees. Commenting on India’s approach against spin, Chopra said they can only play spin well on flat tracks.

“Now it feels like we should admit we can’t play spin. Let’s be very, very honest, let’s not beat around the bush. On flat tracks we can (play spin), but everyone can on a flat track. The only difference is that we play spinners better than other teams on flat tracks and bowls also because our spinners have quality,” Chopra said on the Youtube channel.

Speaking further, the former opening batsman mentioned that batsmen lack confidence against spinners and lack control over their shots.

We try to find a hit when it’s not there: Chopra

“Neither do we trust the spin nor do we have control over our shots. We’re trying to find a shot when it’s not there, trying sweeps, practicing it before the game starts every morning. But it’s like learning a new language, my own. my friend, if you don’t know a language, it takes a long time to learn it,” he added.

Indian batsmen have struggled against spinners on home soil since 2021, which is evident in their declining batting average. Star batsman Virat Kohli averaged 68.42 at home till 2019, which has dropped to 29.92 from 2021. Captain Rohit Sharma (88.33 – 35.58) and KL Rahul (44.25 – 29.33) also saw significant declines. Hence, the Asian giants need to turn things around quickly to resume their dominance at home after being humiliated by New Zealand.