IND vs SA 2025: R Ashwin breaks down how India became poorest spin-playing nation

Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed the reason behind the downfall of Indian Test cricket while facing spin bowlers in turning conditions. Spin claimed 25 of India’s wickets throughout the recently-concluded two-match Test series against the Proteas.

Ashwin highlighted that generating pace-friendly pitches for red-ball cricket in domestic cricket has prepared Indian batters to tackle high-quality pacers but not the tweakers in conditions when the ball starts to grip on the surface. 

“In this day and age, we are probably one of the poorest spin-playing nations in the world as a batting unit. There is a reason for this — we’ve talked about it earlier. Our First-Class cricket is controlled by neutral curators. The reason for neutral curators is to stop really bad wickets from being prepared. But what that has also done — along with the attempt to help India play fast and seam bowling better — is weaken our spin-batting skills. The intention was good, and that’s why we now play well abroad,” stated Ashwin in a video on his YouTube channel.

The erstwhile bowling all-rounder also highlighted the manner in which South Africa outplayed India by playing orthodox cricket and not trying anything fancy with the bat. Ashwin also complimented the bowling and fielding plans of the Proteas.  

“When you talk about playing spin, you don’t start sweeping and reverse-sweeping. You build your game around solid defence. If South Africa can score 80 runs per session and put 500-plus on the board for you to chase in the final innings, they have beaten you with attritional Test cricket — the kind that has to be played in India. At least New Zealand stayed busy and tried to put pressure on us. South Africa didn’t. They played pure attritional Test cricket: 80 runs a session, high-quality pressure with the ball, good field sets, and long spells for the spinners,” he added.

This was the first time South Africa defeated India in India in a Test series after 25 years. Simon Harmer secured 17 wickets in four innings while averaging an impressive 8.94 and possessing an economy rate of 1.91 to claim the Player of the Series award.