'Rahane's Career Suffered Because Of This': Harbhajan Tears Into BCCI Over Obsession For Rank Turners

The series defeat to New Zealand exposed India's vulnerabilities in batting. The team was shot down for just 46 runs in Bengaluru on a spicy pitch, and the batters had no answers to Mitchell Santner on the rank turner of Pune. India over the years have followed a template of preparing dustbowls at home, with Indian spinners running riot against the visiting batters. The strategy yielded positive results for the team as India won 18 consecutive series at home since 2012, however, the wins were mostly because of the spinners running through an opposition as Indian batters too struggled against the visiting spinners. Following a collapse in the second Test against New Zealand, former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh lashed out at the management for preparing rank turns, saying that Indian batters lost a lot of confidence by playing on such wickets. Harbhajan cited the example of Ajinkya Rahane and said his career suffered because of the tracks in India. "Look at the trend during last decades. We are playing mostly on turners through the last decade with the hope that we will win the toss, score 300 and control the game," Harbhajan told news agency PTI."But we don't know if we are at the receiving end, if we have the batting to wriggle out on turners. Our batters have lost a lot of confidence playing on these tracks. The biggest example is Ajinkya Rahane, a fine player. His career suffered because of these kind of surfaces," he added.Harbhajan Singh explained how the batters lose confidence after playing on tracks that turn from Day 1, highlighting how it negatively affects the batters' mindset on overseas tours."We always get into whataboutery that they (SENA countries) also prepare pitches as per their needs but those aren't pitches where you can't even bat. Those pitches go through natural wear and tear over time.""Here if you don't know which one will turn and which one will go straight, you are forever fighting doubts whether to attack or defend. Even Virat Kohli has fared well abroad in last few years where the ball comes onto the bat. Now you have three bad home Tests on these tracks but selectors know that you are a good player and take you on overseas tour, but by then, not having runs under your belt has started playing havoc with your mindset. You also fail in a couple of overseas Tests, and suddenly, you are out of the team. Is that a good thing?" he added.