Our batters are not exposed to playing quality spin on turning tracks: Mandeep Singh [Exclusive]

Tripura skipper Mandeep Singh broke his silence about the growing struggle of Indian batters against quality spin attack on turning tracks. He opened up following India suffered a shocking 0-2 defeat to South Africa at home, a series that exposed technical gaps in the batting group.

India’s batting against South Africa was alarmingly poor. Across the two Tests, India crossed 200 only once, and just two batters managed to score a fifty. The Kolkata Test at Eden Gardens grabbed immense attention due to a major pitch controversy after both teams failed to reach 200 in any innings. The surface witnessed a sharp turn and uneven bounce from Day 1, making batting extremely difficult. The hosts, chasing just 124, collapsed to hand the Proteas a 30-run win.

This game also strengthened a long-standing concern of India’s vulnerability against spin, even at home. From Monty Panesar in 2012 to Steve O’Keefe in 2017, and recently Simon Harmer’s 17 wickets in this series, visiting spinners have repeatedly exposed India on tracks the hosts themselves look to exploit. Sharing his thoughts, Mandeep said he has no issue with turning pitches as long as the surface behaves consistently from Day 1.

“I don’t have any problem with turner pitches. I’m a captain myself and I’ve captained a lot of matches. From a captaincy or team-management point of view, the thought is simple: if there’s turn, it should be there from Day 1. It shouldn’t suddenly become a big factor later. And it’s a very simple reason, the conditions should be consistent throughout. Nobody wants a rank turner, of course, but sometimes the wickets do end up becoming rank turners,” he said in an exclusive chat with CricTracker.

We need more turners in domestic cricket as well: Mandeep Singh

He pointed out a major gap between domestic and international cricket in India. Although international Tests often produce turning tracks, domestic cricket has moved away from such surfaces due to neutral curators introduced by the BCCI.

“But here’s the issue: in international cricket in India, you often get rank turners. But in domestic cricket, are we actually playing on similar pitches? We have neutral curators now, introduced by the BCCI so that teams don’t doctor pitches, which is good because it gives fair, balanced conditions. However, in that process, the traditional spin-friendly turners have reduced. As a result, our batters are not exposed to playing quality spin on turning tracks. I feel it’s time to reintroduce those conditions,” Mandeep added.

He also said that even if Ranji Trophy matches end in 2 to 2.5 days, it is acceptable, as long as matches don’t finish within a day. Bringing back spin-friendly tracks in domestic cricket, according to him, will prepare batters to face quality spin at the highest level instead of feeling shocked when they play in such conditions in international games.

“Even if Ranji Trophy matches end in 2–2.5 days, it’s fine. Even in international cricket, games are finishing in 2–3 days. As long as matches don’t finish in one or one-and-a-half days, it’s acceptable. If that happens, the BCCI already takes action and bans the venue. The same checks can continue. So I think BCCI should bring back more turners in domestic cricket. The more varied wickets players experience, the better they get. Like on these last two wickets — the toss doesn’t guarantee anything. If you play good cricket, you can win even after losing the toss. We have to focus on what we can control. The toss isn’t in our hands. Even the wicket isn’t fully predictable — even big experts can’t always tell exactly how it will play. That’s why I feel we need more turners in domestic cricket as well. So that when players come into Indian or international cricket, they don’t feel like they’re experiencing these conditions for the first time,” the Tripura skipper concluded.

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