Former India batter Ashok Malhotra didn’t hold back and blamed the T20 format for India’s rising struggles to play spin. Notably, Indian team’s struggles to play spin have been on display, and considering India’s position in the WTC 2025-27 cycle standings as well as the fact that the WTC Final is less than a year away, the situation is pretty concerning. Moreover, India is set to lock horns with Sri Lanka in a two-game Test series in the island nation, where slow and turning tracks are awaiting them.
Spin became a key reason behind India’s defeats in the recent home series defeats, first a 3-0 whitewash by New Zealand in 2024, and then the 2-0 loss to South Africa. However, the former cricketer believes that the shortest format of the game is the root cause of the problem. He pointed out that T20 cricket demands flat and quick deliveries, leading to reshaping the way how young bowlers operate, giving batters lesser exposure to spin.
"It's because of T20 cricket. In T20 cricket, nobody spins the ball; they just fire it in. In our time, there was Bishan Bedi, Rajinder Goel, Dilip Doshi, Padmakar Shivalkar and Dhiraj Parsana. Each team had a good bowler,” Kumar told PTI.
Ashok Malhotra Takes a Jibe at Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja
Not only this, but Malhotra went on to take a jibe at India’s spinning stars Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. The former cricketer believes that they don’t spin the ball, which makes it obvious that if India doesn’t have a spinner, how they can play against spinners. "But if you look at the situation now, you have the same Jadeja and Axar Patel, who don't spin the ball. So, when you don't have the spinner, how can you play it effectively? That's why New Zealand beat us with part-time spinners, and then South Africa followed suit,” he added.
Malhotra’s argument highlights a genuine issue which is the technical problems within Indian cricket. When the batters don’t get to play against traditional spin, they lose the skills to face the technique. Automatically, it creates a vulnerability, leading to rival teams successfully exploiting the Indian side in Test series at home.
