The incursions about what went wrong for India in their 3-0 humiliation at home at the hands of New Zealand have begun, with many questioning the performances of the players but also the preparations in terms of the conditions that were offered to the teams.

India’s tactics and pitches were both under scrutiny, as heavy-turning pitches were designed for the last two Tests in Pune and Mumbai. The visitors took 37 out of 40 wickets through spin in those two matches, with the Indian batters struggling against the likes of Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, and Glenn Phillips.

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh reflected on how creating turning tracks in order to put visiting players in trouble is a poor plan, and expressed his reasons for why he thinks India missed a trick in going with that plan.

Speaking to ANI, the former international said "This entire series has been quite disappointing for all of us. When New Zealand came here, the expectation was that the result would be 3-0 and India would win the series.”

“I can only say that they outplayed us and they took advantage of those conditions. Captain definitely has responsibility and at the same time, the team is also as responsible as the captain,” continued Harbhajan, indicating that India’s planning and execution were both at fault.

"The conditions here were offering a lot of turn — gaddha khoda toh tha lekin gir khud gaaye (we dug a hole and fell into it ourself)," he said.

'If you want to play good cricket…'

Harbhajan expressed his disappointment in the decision to make these decisive Test matches such imbalanced and spin-happy conditions. “Test cricket means that a match should ideally go on for five days and the better team should emerge victorious. I think the conditions should not be tampered with too much. If you want to play good cricket, then you have to play on a good wicket.”

Harbhajan also spoke about how the efficacy of India’s top-quality spinners was dulled by making such pitches, with the advantage their skill provides being nullified by opposition spinners being given a lot of help by the conditions.

The leading wicket-takers for the series were Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja with 16 scalps each, but New Zealand also had plenty of success with Ajaz Patel taking 15 wickets, and Mitchell Santner contributing 13 wickets in his sole match with career-best performances.

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