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Manjrekar blames ‘poorly trained’ factor for KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill’s home woes: ‘When they play at home…’
Manjrekar pointed out that likes of Jaiswal, Rahul, Shubman Gill and Pant struggle at home because they barely play first-class cricket on turning tracks.
Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar broke down India’s recent batting troubles in home conditions, noting how the team has now lost two of their last three Test series on home soil. In both defeats, India were comprehensively outplayed and even suffered a heavy whitewash. In the recently concluded Test series against South Africa, India’s batting lineup crumbled under pressure as their struggles against spin were laid bare. The visiting batters looked far more assured, exposing a worrying vulnerability in Indian conditions.
Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja were the only batters to cross 100 runs in the two-Test series, while senior names like KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant struggled badly. Yashasvi Jaiswal managed a half-century, but couldn’t maintain consistency across the remaining innings.
Manjrekar believes India’s recent home Test defeats stem from deeper systemic issues. He argues that domestic batting stars lose their edge once they enter the national setup, playing mostly overseas and arriving underprepared for spin-friendly conditions at home.
"There are two reasons India went down 0-3 to New Zealand and 0-2 to South Africa at home. And both teams beat India not by pace, swing or bounce but by spin. One is when an Indian batter scores heavily in domestic cricket and gets selected for India, he becomes like an NRI. In the sense that he hardly plays at home. It's more overseas cricket for Indian batters," Sanjay Manjrekar said on his Instagram account.
“They hardly any first-class matches”: Sanjay Manjrekar
The Indian team recently had an impressive outing on the England tour, where the young batting lineup thrived under pressure, tackling the overseas conditions effectively. However, it hasn't been the case for them at home.
Manjrekar pointed out that Indian batters like Jaiswal, Rahul, Shubman Gill and Pant struggle at home because they barely play first-class cricket on turning tracks, leaving them underprepared for Test matches in Indian conditions.
“Looking at numbers, people like Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant play anything between nine to 12 Test matches away from home the last two years and in India not as many. And when they play Tests at home, there are hardly any first-class matches that they've played. So they come very poorly trained or any recent experience on those kinds of pitches,” he added.
