Batters asked to take one pad off to counter spin ( Gautam Gambhir's fix for India's flop show at Eden)

[helperononline]

Eden Gardens saw something unusual ahead of India’s do-or-die Test against South Africa - frontline batters walking into face spin with one leg virtually unprotected. It was India’s latest, somewhat quirky experiment to fix a batting problem that has already cost them a home Test.
With South Africa 1-0 up after that 30-run win in Kolkata and the second Test in Guwahati looming, the Indian camp has turned to an old-school drill: make batters remove their front pad against spin so they have no choice but to trust their bat. It's a high risk, but the team clearly believes it’s a risk worth taking.

 

As reported by PTI, during an optional three-hour session at the Eden Gardens, Sai Sudharsan and Dhruv Jurel spent extended time facing spinners with only one pad on. Sudharsan, a left-handed batter in contention to replace the injured Shubman Gill, took off his right pad and ventured out to meet the ball with long, committed strides and soft hands.

The logic behind this practice is simple. With full protection, modern batters often plant the front pad and let it become a second line of defence, increasing their LBW risk and reducing the role of the bat. Take that pad away, and every misjudgment exposes bone. It forces cleaner decision-making: get to the pitch, smother spin, or get hit. Coaches believe it sharpens judgment against deliveries that grip, turn, or bounce awkwardly - exactly what undid India in Kolkata.

Jurel, a right-handed batter, used the same one-pad routine while rehearsing his reverse sweep. Without the front pad, he had to commit fully with his right leg and body weight, rather than sweeping from the crease. For India, that shot is a key release option on turning pitches; the drill is designed to hard-wire correct movement instead of instinctive, half-hearted strokes.

The session was officially optional, but carried serious intent. Only six players turned up, with Ravindra Jadeja - India’s senior all-rounder batting the longest. Head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak spent long spells observing Sudharsan in particular. Against pace, he didn’t look entirely settled. Akash Deep repeatedly beat his outside edge. Those struggles underline just how big a call it will be if the management throws him into a must-win Test.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/dhruv-rathee-compares-ranveer-singh-dhurandhar-to-isis-beheadings-slams-aditya-dhar-arjun-rampal-sanjay-dutt-madhavan-101763520487077.html

 

[Manucrick]

Just fix the pitch

[Gollum]

7 minutes ago, Manucrick said:

Just fix the pitch

Exactly. Play on a normal pitch, like what we saw against WI last month. 

[vvvslaxman]

Jadeja is still living in pre-DRS era. He is every slow slightly hiding the bat behind the pad and thrust the pad with no second line of defense.  He is repeatedly doing it compared to Washi who offers the bat infront of pad.

[Manucrick]

Just now, Gollum said:

Exactly. Play on a normal pitch, like what we saw against WI last month. 

Gg will ask for more spin 

[vvvslaxman]

8 minutes ago, Manucrick said:

Just fix the pitch

He wants everyone to be like Steve smith . lol Technique change on the go.

[vvvslaxman]

Someone is goign to cop it on the shin and go out injured. These nonsense happen before series during series.

[Manucrick]

2 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

He wants everyone to be like Steve smith . lol Technique change on the go.

Never seen a dumb coach like him

[Gollum]

These things one should try in off-season, like KP did a few months before coming to India in 2012 (Dravid's advice). Not in between tests. When you are in such a mind frame, coming from a painful loss, coach should look to simplify things, keep things light, work on mental aspect, not complcate matters more. 

 

Imagine GG in place of Shastrin in 20-21 BGT. After Adelaide disaster, we would have suffered 3 more innings defeats. 

Edited November 19, 2025 by Gollum

[vvvslaxman]

27 minutes ago, Gollum said:

These things one should try in off-season, like KP did a few months before coming to India in 2012 (Dravid's advice). Not in between tests. When you are in such a mind frame, coming from a painful loss, coach should look to simplify things, keep things light, work on mental aspect, not complcate matters more. 

 

Imagine GG in place of Shastrin in 20-21 BGT. After Adelaide disaster, we would have suffered 3 more innings defeats. 

 

Shastri was asked about what did you guys do after 36 all out. Seems like everyone took a break. Cleared their mind came back strong in the boxing day Test.

[Gollum]

5 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

Shastri was asked about what did you guys do after 36 all out. Seems like everyone took a break. Cleared their mind came back strong in the boxing day Test.

Shastri and Bharat Arun were chill dudes, players were at ease around them. 

[vvvslaxman]

1 minute ago, Gollum said:

Shastri and Bharat Arun were chill dudes, players were at ease around them. 

 

I read a piece about Sai sudarshan having a hit in the nets. 

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/gautam-gambhir-eye-sai-sudharsan-test-recall-india-south-africa-10372625/

 

Much after the groundsmen had unfastened the nets, rolled and tied them up with big white ribbons, and ferried on their shoulders to their dungeon, the sweepers had scrubbed the surface off the powdery debris, Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar lingered for a session of close-in catch in a distant corner of the ground. Washington crouched low, from first slip, to swoop grass-trimmers with his giant palms; Sai hunkered down, at silly point and then short-leg, to pouch edges ricocheting from an inclined object that resembled wheel chokes.

Their teammates — Dhruv Jurel, Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja, and Devdutt Padikkal had also turned up for the optional practice session on the scheduled fifth day of the Test — had long retreated to the dressing room after nearly three hours of assorted drills. But Washington and Sai, Tamil Nadu pals, wanted to train their reflexes to close-in rigours before travelling to Guwahati on Wednesday. Eventually, the support staff had to coax them out of their reverie. A bevy of medics swarmed Washington for selfies, Sai walked past them without the nauseous attention that stalks India’s cricketers.

During the session, suffocatingly intense, he batted in the constant gaze of the coaches, often standing in a line to whisper advice. With Shubman Gill’s participation in the Guwahati Test uncertain, Sai, the designated No. 3 in Gautam Gambhir’s designs, could potentially return. In his last Test, he stroked a mellifluous 87 against the West Indies, but lost his spot in Eden in India’s all-rounder shapeshifting. His possible return and Gill’s absence would give a left-majority look to India’s batting line-up. The prospect could light up the eyes of South Africa off-spinner Simon Harmer, however, that is only an outlying concern.

But Sai barely faced spin bowling. His spin game is largely impenetrable, raised on Chepauk turners. His tendency to hang on the back foot, even to fuller balls, is counteracted by his smooth hands and fast reflexes. “The only thing we talk about is some of the very full balls also, he plays on the back foot. So we’re trying to cut [down] on that. He very much knows that, and he tries. And obviously the line [matters]; if the line is outside off stump, the same length he could easily go [onto the] front foot and play, then impact [on the pad] would be outside off stump,” batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said during the West Indies series. None of the worries surfaced on Tuesday.

 

More concerning, though, is him losing shape when playing off his hips to the balls slanting into his body from the seamers. Consequently, he falls over and ends up playing the stroke away from the body, just the hands flapping at the ball. He becomes an easy snare for leg-side traps. England’s seamers dutifully exploited his vulnerability. So, to get reacquainted with the line that eats up his peace of mind, that blind-spots him into innocuous positions, Akash Deep teased him with hard-length balls into his body. He comfortably defended on the back foot — only when he searches for run-making avenues does he get into trouble. Not a sleep-killing weakness, but one could destroy his siesta. He dealt those comfortably, but Akash Deep squared him up a few times with the fifth-stump line. A couple dribbled off his outside edge. Akash, on his home deck, bowled with rhythm and sharpness, snapping through his action without any strain.

Coach’s prowling eyes

Both Gambhir and Kotak prowled around Sai’s nets. Gambhir shuttled from one net to the other with the fastidious demeanour of a hostel warden, viewing batsmen from every conceivable angle, straining his neck, stretching his sinews, watching as many balls as possible. He would sidle him up for a chat; so would his trusted lieutenants Kotak, Morne Morkel, and Ryan Ten Doeschate. Sai studiously nodded his head and headed back to the nets, knotting the milk white bandana beneath his helmet.

Morkel wore a more relaxed demeanour, at times playfully threatening to uncoil the lumbering action of his. He, after all, was the closest clone to Marco Jansen and capable of replicating his vertical threats, albeit with the opposite hand. The nets indeed had a left-arm seamer, but nearly a foot shorter than Jansen and sans his venom. Sai had little qualm dealing with him.

Later, Morkel bowled off-breaks at Akash Deep and rattled his stumps twice. Each time, he celebrated by spreading his arms like the Vitruvian Man. He entertained Jurel’s requests too, though his defences were harder to breach. He was the tallest spinner in view, and India’s batsmen, with a growing susceptibility against tall spinners, gave Morkel’s shoulder a thorough working over.

The other in-demand spinner on the floor was Washington. The practice surface was less bestial than the one used for the Test, now burnt and frozen until the next round of engagements. But Ravindra Jadeja soaked a relentless burst from Washington, plus a squadron of net spinners who barely woke up any demons from the surface. He unfurled his sweeps and cuts and, out of sheer ennui, dialled a reverse sweep he top-edged. Washington, though, offered a tighter interrogation of his spin game. He lured him to drive and beat him a few times. He imposed an hour-long spell on Washington before the off-spinning all-rounder padded up for a few brazen hits himself.

[putrevus]

41 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Shastri and Bharat Arun were chill dudes, players were at ease around them. 

Plus Shastri always had great cricketing mind along with being a good people person.

 

How many geniuses here mocked Shastri and Arun here when they got appointed. Sachin led CA wanted Zak to be bowling coach. Mind you Sachin and co were there along with Dhoni who selected great Jaidev over Umesh Yadav in 010 in SA.

 

 

[Lord]

kya din aa gaye? We are being coached publicly to play spin in our own backyard

 

This might be leaked by GG to clean his own image as if to say he's on work.

[BacktoCricaddict]

4 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

Someone is goign to cop it on the shin and go out injured. These nonsense happen before series during series.

Yay! Bring on DP!!

[vvvslaxman]

Out of the box thinking. Ravichandran samaran can be thrown in the deepend 

[AKane]

Gimmicks are not going to solve problems related to technique.

[tapandrun]

Think ppl are making it look bigger than what this practice is.

 

Player do all these thing during the series, they do not get reported. Its just to train the mind. They are not working on technique or something longterm.

No its  not a quick-fix its v.usual thing to do.

Players/Coaches/teams uses various methods

 

Say if team starts getting out on bouncers they do train to leave the balls and not to play hook or pull out of habit, it jst to train the brain. Keeping bat down when ducking.

batters do shadow practice behind some other batters in the nets, just to check how certain batters plays and picks certain length and how they themselves would have played and sometime they copy the shot selection. They are not working on their technique but training the brain.

 

Every coach/player have their own way in such things.

 

Previous Ind batters would use stumps and try to play few drives, it was just a confidence thing that they can middle a ball with stump as well.

Then few batters (root) started using proper training bats (v.thin bats) and other batters started doing the same even getting training bats in various shapes to match exact weight of their actual bats. now no1 seems to be doing it.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2025 by tapandrun

[rkt.india]

4 hours ago, AKane said:

Gimmicks are not going to solve problems related to technique.

No technique is good enough on a minefield. You need luck.

[AKane]

2 hours ago, rkt.india said:

No technique is good enough on a minefield. You need luck.

So playing with one padded leg will help with luck?