Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has criticised the pitch conditions where the India-New Zealand Test series was played. In the second and third Tests, New Zealand spinners outperformed Indian spinners, as Indian batters struggled to pick up the spin. Harbhajan criticised the pitches in Pune and Mumbai, which had served up rank turners where both sides struggled to score. As India’s batting crumbled to 121 all out while chasing 146 on Day 3 of the third Test, Harbhajan said that India had dug their own grave.
“Dusro ke liye gaddha khoda tha, gir khud giye (dug a grave for someone else, but fell yourself),” commented Harbhajan, speaking to ANI regarding the spin-friendly conditions.
“While the tour of Australia will be more difficult, one good thing there is that the pitches would be better for cricket. Here, the pitches were far too much in favour of spin,” Harbhajan added.
“It does not paint a good picture for Test cricket if the game ends in two-and-a-half or three days. Test cricket should go on for five days where both teams can play well. If we make pitches like this, one team will end up getting an advantage at times. The conditions should not be tampered with too often,” said Harbhajan.
“If India play on good cricket wickets, I don’t think the Indian batters would play like this,” he continued.
In the second Test in Pune, Mitchell Santner starred with the ball, picking up 13 wickets to guide the Kiwis to victory. In the third Test, in Santner’s absence, it was left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel who picked up 11 wickets and broke the Indian batting.
Both New Zealand and India did not cross 300 in any of their innings in the second and third Tests, with India crossing 250 only once, in the first innings in Mumbai.
