NEW DELHI: Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh did not hold back after India slipped to their second home Test series defeat against South Africa. He said that if Indian cricket wants to protect its “future generations”, the team management must rethink its approach to home pitches and move away from heavily spin-assisted surfaces that previously helped them dominate for over a decade — a run that ended when New Zealand handed India a whitewash last year.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Speaking on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan criticised the current standards of Test preparation, saying Indian players have forgotten how to compete over five days because of surfaces that consistently produce two- or three-day matches. He added that the nature of these pitches contributed to declining batting numbers for stars like Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, eventually leading to their exit from the Test setup.“We do not know how to play matches for five days. We have got so used to playing so many matches on wickets where matches last for two-three days… Nowadays, it has reduced averages of our batters like Virat Kohli, Pujara, Rahane to 35-40 from 50… Our old greats were greats because they knew how to play five days of Test match cricket.”
He urged Indian cricket to move on from its past and prioritise better pitches over favourable results.“For the betterment of Indian cricket, I think they should forget what has happened in the last 10 to 12 years… start playing on better wickets to save the future generation of Indian cricket.”Harbhajan added that Test cricket demands patience and discipline — qualities he feels have faded due to recent conditions.“The kind of temperament needed to play Test cricket requires effort, hard work, discipline, and I feel that for many years this has been missing.”He further argued that good wickets produce fair contests and reveal the true winner over the full duration of a match.“But what happens on a good wicket? A good wicket makes the game last five days… This lottery type situation, earlier New Zealand got lucky, now South Africa got lucky…”Harbhajan also analysed India’s performance in Guwahati, where the pitch appeared fair and the match reached the final day — yet India collapsed twice.“South Africa won the toss on this pitch and made 489… And then in the second innings, Team India collapsed for 140… So this is not just the fault of the pitch. I feel the biggest fault is your temperament.”South Africa dominated the Test through strong batting contributions led by Senuran Muthusamy’s maiden century and Marco Jansen’s explosive 93. Jansen, who also took 6/48 in the first innings, dismantled India’s batting order before Simon Harmer completed the rout with a match-winning 6/37 in the second innings. Ravindra Jadeja’s fifty and Sai Sudarshan’s gritty 139-ball vigil were among the few bright moments in a forgettable chase of 549.South Africa sealed a commanding 408-run win, with Harmer finishing as Player of the Series for his 17 wickets across two Tests, while Jansen claimed the Player of the Match award for his all-round brilliance.
