India head coach Gautam Gambhir has blamed the rise of T20 cricket for the poor defense of Indian batsmen in recent times. The famous Indian batting line-up, in particular, was brought to its knees in the second Test against New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, with the Blackcaps winning the match by 113 runs and handing India their first series defeat at home since 2012.

Indian batsmen looked clueless against spin like left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner He recorded career-best figures of 13/157 and surprised the hosts in their own room. Even senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had no answer to Santner’s variations as he guided New Zealand to their historic first Test series victory in India.

Recently, Gambhir spoke about India’s glaring weakness against spin in recent times and blamed T20 cricket on their poor defense while facing spin. However, the India head coach emphasized the importance of defending well and said that the team is working towards it and the results will come in the future.

“The more T20 cricket is played (around the world), the more people will struggle to defend. But the defense of the most successful players, regardless of formats, has always been strong. We must continue to tell people the importance of defence, and we are working hard on it and will see the results in the future,” he said Gambhir at the pre-match press conference.

“Sometimes you get so used to swaggering the ball that you forget the soft hands you had probably eight or 10 years ago. A complete cricketer is a cricketer who has played the T20 format and Test cricket successfully. He can adapt his game to that. “But in the future you will probably see, “We will have the same problems with many other teams because the more T20 cricket is played, the less people will start defending,” he added.

There is a huge decline in the home averages of Indian batsmen

India’s weakness against spin has been highlighted time and again on home soil, with spinners like Steve O’Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Tom Hartley and Todd Murphy giving them a run for their money in recent times. While skipper Rohit Sharma’s home average has dropped from 88.33 in 2020 to 36.90 after 2021, the falling averages of some of their top players also show their struggles with spin.

Same for Virat Kohli (68.42 to 32.20). Cheteshwar Pujara (60.62 – 24.53), Ajinkya Rahane (39.28 – 18.87) and KL Rahul (44.25 – 29.33). India, therefore, will need to put their demons against spin behind them when they take on New Zealand in the third and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, starting November 1. The Rohit Sharma-led team will be desperate to win the third Test. Whitewash for the World Test Championship (WTC) and secure important points.