Question.

Why do India batsmen struggle overseas?

Why do India batsmen struggle overseas?

Have you ever seen a rabbit caught in the headlight?  No, you don’t have to go on a safari for such a view, just tune in to a sports channel telecasting India batsmen playing overseas.  Indian batsmen can give any Bollywood dancer run for their money by dancing to the tune of overseas pacers. Why is it so? Why do Indian batsmen so dreaded in Indian conditions suddenly become so shaky when they travel abroad? If the answer was so easy maybe we could have found the solution to it way sooner.
More often than not any batsman that makes into Indian cricket team scores heavily in Indian domestic circuit. And come IPL the batting talent of even a fringe player is on display and a lot of them latch onto the opportunity and make a name for themselves. Even the established Indian batsmen make sure that they tear apart any world class bowling in IPL. But when these players are sent for a foreign tour all their form and talent go for a toss. The primary reason for it is that most of these Indian batsmen play on Indian flat and lifeless pitches all their life. They are accustomed to play on front foot as ball rarely rises more than chest high. Again the reason is lack of good quality Indian pacers who could test the character of Indian batsmen, but one can’t blame poor bowlers they hardly get any support from pitches and thus more bowlers prefer to fox batsmen by their guile and spin rather than raw pace. So when these untested batsmen play on pitches in New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and England they are found wanting by pace and bounce and they aren’t technically adept at playing them.
With the advent of slam bang T20 cricket batsmen now hardly put a price on their wicket. Watching a batsman leave a ball outside off stump is as rare as witnessing orderly proceedings in Parliament. One might score a boundary or two but it takes only a ball to send a batsman to pavilion. A less obvious reason is lack of stability at top order. India have tried multiple players at opening slot M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag etc but still there is no settled combination at the top.  Is a first wicket falls early it opens a gate for bowlers to knock middle order since the ball is new. This has put immense pressure on Indian middle order especially in Test cricket overseas.
Another significant reason is lack of match practice in overseas conditions. Due to increase in international matches and slotting IPL amidst it has given BCCI little scope of squeezing practice matches. This is one of the reasons why Indian batsmen fail to acclimatize to foreign conditions. Though not much can be done in this regard but scheduling more and more India-A and India under-19 matches can give Indian batsmen exposure in their early career.
The situation is not a lost cause as it once was but a lot needs to be done and onus is on BCCI to provide right environment to budding Indian batsmen and bowlers alike. Pace bowlers should be given incentives to run in and give their 100% by developing more conducive pitches. And let’s just hope that BCCI with all its war chest if up for it.

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