Manjrekar criticizes Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli's struggle against spinners

The Indian batters once again struggled against spinners on a slow Pune track, resulting in a historic series win for New Zealand. This decision to prepare turning tracks for the opposition has backfired on India in recent times, as seen in the second Test against New Zealand. Unlike the past, when batters like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman could handle spinners with ease, the current Indian team seems to be struggling in home conditions. This trend does not bode well for their future performances.

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar also pointed out the Indian batters' struggles in recent times. He asserted that young Shubman Gill looked uncomfortable while facing spinners on turning tracks as he scored 30 and 23 in Pune and was dismissed on both occasions by Mitchell Santner.

"When Yashasvi and Shubman were going together, I thought that there would be a surprise around the corner. Shubman Gill clearly does not have the feel for spinners. You know batters, who can work with their footwork instinctively, he clearly is under pressure when he is playing spinners on turning pitches," Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.

Manjrekar also talked about another flop show from senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, as the former failed to read the length and was dismissed by Santner twice. While he thinks that the Indian skipper looked underconfident in the middle.

"Virat Kohli once again misread the length. The ball was much fuller than he anticipated and came back into him sharply. Rohit Sharma was not confident at the crease. There are a lot of guys, top 3 out of 4 who are short of confidence against spin. On pitches like these, you see that it is difficult to bat vs spin in first session and a half," he added.

Meanwhile, he further suggested that India failed to handle pressure and kept losing wickets at regular intervals at the start, which didn't allow the lower-middle order to put up a fight.

"I think that if India backed their defence a little more, things could have gotten easier. If India had not lost too many wickets earlier, this game could have been much closer with Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja being around," he further added.