Former India batter Wasim Jaffer made a blunt remark about Team India’s batting after the one-off T20I against Japan. India registered a hard-fought two-run victory in a rain-affected match. Batting first in a five-over-per-side match, they managed 32/4. Wasim Jaffer commented on how Indian batters have struggled on difficult wickets recently and suggested a change in their approach and mindset.

“Yes, in our batting, there is a blemish that when there is a wicket that is not flat, our batters get stuck. We also had a problem in England. When there is a little difficulty, when the ball seams a little, or the spin is very less, this match felt like a spin wicket. But initially, if there is movement, then our batters get in trouble. Maybe they want to play with the same strike rate, they want to play with the same aggression. You have to temper your game and not think only beyond 200. We have to rethink what scores to keep in mind on such wickets and what approach to take,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“I was actually surprised. It’s good that we won. Otherwise, it would have been a big embarrassment. It would have been a big news that we were playing for the first time in Japan and we lost. I heard it was a difficult wicket. Even though we won by only 2 runs, it felt like we saved our reputation,” he further added.

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However, Wasim Jaffer also shared the drawbacks of preparing rank turners at home in Test matches. Talking about his earlier point about Indian batters struggling against spin, he stated that rank turners must be avoided and more balanced wickets must be made as well.

“I think first of all, we should avoid giving rank turners. Because they didn’t give us good results. Whether it was against New Zealand or South Africa. We made rank turners against them but it cost us in turn. So I think we should play on good wickets, where, from the third day, the ball starts spinning. I think we should make that kind of pitch. Otherwise, we put a lot of pressure on our batters, and we also bring their bowlers into the game. If the ball is spinning from the first day, then I think we put pressure on ourselves. And our batters, we don’t have the same technique as the previous batters did. Making a safer wicket is better,” he added.

“It’s a bit of a problem because these days, batters don’t practice much with the red-ball. There are a lot of matches in a year, and they play with white-ball, so they cannot give enough time to red-ball. And there are three different formats. Indian cricketers, who play in all three formats, they have very little time,” he concluded.