Analyzing Team India’s woes against left-arm spinners in home Tests
India recently went down to England by 28 runs in the first Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Bowling first after losing the toss, the hosts did an excellent job of restricting the Englishmen to 246 in 64.3 overs. India responded with 436 as Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja all contributed 80s.
Having gained a significant first-innings lead of 190, Team India were in a great position to win the Test, having reduced England to 163/5 in their second innings. Ollie Pope, however, played one of the finest Test knocks in India to lead the visitors’ fightback. He compiled 196 off 278 balls, and combined with the lower-order, to lift England to 420.
Set to chase 231 for victory, India could only manage 202 runs as debutant left-arm spinner Tom Hartley ran through the hosts’ batting line, registering brilliant figures of 7/62. The wonderful performance came after he struggled in the first innings, claiming two wickets for 131 runs in 25 overs.
Left is not right for India!
Worryingly for India, Hartley is the latest in a growing list of left-arm spinners to have troubled their batters in home Tests. Since the start of 2010, India have lost seven Test matches at home and left-arm spinners have been central to their downfall in a number of these games.
India’s first Test defeat at home since the start of 2010 came in February 2010 when they went down to South Africa by an innings and six runs in Nagpur. Pace spearhead Dale Steyn was the standout performer for the visitors, claiming 7/51 in India’s first innings.
The underrated Paul Harris was South Africa’s frontline spinner in the Test and the left-arm spinner played a significant part in the Proteas’ triumph. After dismissing Indian captain MS Dhoni in the first innings, he got the big scalps of Murali Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar and Dhoni after the hosts were asked to follow-on. Harris bowled Tendulkar exactly on 100.
Top performances by visiting left-arm spinners in Tests in India since 2010 (in matches won by visiting side)
In the Mumbai Test in 2012 at the Wankhede Stadium, Monty Panesar famously claimed 11 wickets as England routed India by 10 wickets. Panesar registered figures of 5/129 in the first innings and followed it up with 6/81 in the second as a strong Indian batting line-up comprising Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Cheteshwar Pujara, Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Dhoni, succumbed to his guile.
There were more question marks over Indian batters’ ability against left-arm spin on turning pitches in home Tests after Panesar picked up 4/90 in the first innings of the next Test at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. England went on to win this game as well by seven wickets and eventually registered a famous 2-1 series triumph.
India’s next Test defeat at home came in February 2017 against Australia in Pune. Inability to tackle left-arm spin yet again led to India’s downfall. Steve O'Keefe claimed 6/35 in India’s first innings and 6/35 in the second as Australia hammered the hosts by 333 runs.
To their credit, India’s batters handled O'Keefe very well for the rest of the series as the left-arm spinner picked up only seven wickets in five innings after his Pune heroics.
Joe Root led England’s victory march in Chennai in February 2021, smashing 218 in the first innings of the first Test. However, this win too featured a significant contribution from a left-arm spinner. After India were set 420 for victory, Jack Leach dismissed Rohit Sharma, Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin and Shahbaz Nadeem to finish with figures of 4/76 from 26 overs. India were bowled out for 192 in 58.1 overs.
Percentage of wickets claimed by left-arm spinners in each of India’s Test losses at home since 2010
Before the recent loss to England in Hyderabad, India’s previous Test defeat at home had come against Australia in Indore in March 2023. While seasoned off-spinner Nathan Lyon was the Player of the Match for claiming 11 wickets in Australia’s nine-wicket victory, left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann, playing only in his second Test, picked up 5/16 in nine overs in India’s first innings. His wickets included those of Rohit, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer.