Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has shared his opinion on India’s turnaround in local 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 home Test cricket history.

India were defeated by New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santer and Ajaz Patel in the second and third Tests respectively. Santner recorded a career-best 13 wickets in Pune and later. Ajaz picked 11 wickets to bring 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 seems like we should admit that 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 better than other teams on flat tracks and we also bowl better because our spinners have quality,” Chopra said on the YouTube channel.

Later, the former opening batsman mentioned how batsmen lack confidence against spin and lack control in their shots.

We are trying to find an opportunity when he is not there: Chopra

“We neither have confidence in spin nor control our shots. We try to find a shot when it’s not there, we try to sweep, we practice it before the start of the game every morning. But it’s like learning a new language, 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 at home since 2021, which is evident in the drop in their batting averages. Star batsman Virat Kohli averaged 68.42 at home till 2019, which has fallen to 29.92 since 2021. Captain Rohit Sharma (88.33 to 35.58) and KL Rahul (44.25 to 29.33) have also seen significant drops. Therefore, the Asian giants need to turn things around quickly to restart their local dominance after being humiliated by New Zealand.