Even the Indian batters do not play spin as well as the past players in my time – Wasim Jaffer

Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer believes the Indian batters do not play spin as well as the previous generation players. India had struggled to chase down even 100 runs in the second T20I against New Zealand on a difficult pitch.

The Indian batters looked at sea while facing the opposition’s spinners and they were not able to find any kind of impetus in their batting innings. Jaffer recalled that they were told to play out the difficult spell by the coaches but the current players don’t have that luxury in the T20 format as they try to hit the bowlers out of the attack with aggressive batting.

“Nowadays batters usually find their way out of trouble by hitting the bowlers out of the attack. It’s not what it used to be in our time where you were trained or told to play out the spell,” Jaffer explained while talking to ESPNCricinfo.

“Even in the seaming conditions, nowadays the batter will probably try to go out of the way and take the bowler out of the attack. The batter will be more aggressive or more proactive,” Jaffer further added.

The former domestic giant added that the focus is more on fast bowling these days and even the Indian batters, who are brought up on spin-friendly pitches, are struggling while facing spinners.

“In our time, we were told to play out the spell, but T20 does not allow you to do that. Even the Indian batters do not play spin as good as the past players in my time. This is definitely a concern, but it is just the upbringing. The focus is more on fast bowling and you don’t get to play a lot of spin in the domestic circuit as well,” the former batter concluded.

Suryakumar Yadav, who is known to be good against the spinners, also could not find his A-game against New Zealand in the second T20I. SKY scored 26 runs off 31 balls and he was awarded the Player of the Match.

The third and final T20I of the series between India and New Zealand will be played in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.