Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has advised India to start playing on better wickets to save the future generation of Indian cricket. India suffered a 2-0 series loss against the Proteas after the batting unit could not deliver the goods.
India could not cross the 250-run mark once in the series. India returned with scores of 189 and 93 on a difficult track in Kolkata, whereas they were bundled out after scoring 201 and 140 in Guwahati.
Singh reckons India must put their previous records on the backburner and they must look to get positive results by working hard on good pitches.
Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube Channel, “So if someone feels irritated hearing this, let them feel it. It does not matter to me. But somehow, for the betterment of Indian cricket, I think they should forget what has happened in the last 10 to 12 years, what pitches they have played on. Leave those wins behind. They look good in records, fine, but start playing on better wickets to save the future generation of Indian cricket.”
“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. Because matches get over in two-and-a-half or three days, everyone goes home, the broadcaster suffers separately, people who bought tickets suffer separately,” he added.
Singh highlighted that South Africa were able to hit a jackpot after they got a rank turner in Kolkata.
“But what happens on a good wicket? A good wicket makes the game last five days. And then you find out who the real winner is. This lottery type situation, earlier New Zealand got lucky, now South Africa got lucky in the first match, because the pitch was such that no one even knew what was going to happen.”
The former Punjab spinner slammed the team’s batting unit for the below par performance in the series.
“Now, coming to the second match. South Africa won the toss on this pitch and made 489. You might say the pitch is good on the first day, fine. But even in the second innings, they scored 260 runs and lost only five wickets. And how many did you make in the first innings? 201.”
“Fine, the team got all out, maybe the surface had a little bit of something happening, some spin, but you did not get out to spin. Who took six wickets? Jansen did, a fast bowler. And then in the second innings, Team India collapsed for 140. And look, they made 260 there and you made only 140. So this is not just the fault of the pitch. I feel the biggest fault is your temperament,” he added.
India and South Africa will now take on each other in a three-match ODI series.
