India’s struggles against finger spin have resurfaced in the T20 World Cup, with batters faltering on slow pitches. Abhishek Sharma’s lean patch and early collapses against USA and Netherlands exposed vulnerabilities, though Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan have steadied innings. Fielding lapses have added to concerns ahead of the Super Eights.

Ahmedabad: India's struggles against wrist spinners have carried over from Test cricket to T20I cricket. Left-arm spinners Mitchell Santner and Simon Harmer troubled the Indian batters during the home Test series loss against New Zealand and South Africa. Ajaz Patel and Keshav Maharaj also played key roles in those triumphs.

Now the defending champions, who entered the ICC Men's T20 World Cup as overwhelming favourites, have struggled to play fearless cricket; they are known for it, due to their struggles against finger spinners on sluggish pitches, especially at Wankhede and Ahmedabad.

The crucial call for dropping ODI and Test skipper Shubman Gill for 'two wicketkeepers' in the playing XI hasn't worked so far. He could have been handy on these pitches, but India chose aggression over method.

Sanju Samson hasn’t capitalised on the chances and doesn’t seem to be in the team’s plans for playing XI now. He played a game in this tournament only against Namibia after Abhishek Sharma missed out. However, the inclusion of Ishan Kishan in the World Cup squad after an impressive show in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy has proved to be a master stroke.

Abhishek entered the maiden ICC tournament in prime form as the World No 1 T20 batter. But he has failed to open his account in three league games. Bowlers seem to have figured out his weakness, and he has been dismissed playing across the line in the last two games to finger spinners.

He was dismissed first ball by USA seamer Ali Khan in the first match and missed the game against Namibia due to a stomach bug and was hospitalised. His comeback was ordinary as he fell to off-spinners Salman Ali Agha of Pakistan and Netherlands’ Aryan Dutt.

The prolific opener with a monstrous strike rate of 192-plus is enduring a sudden lean patch, and

slow pitches haven't helped his bat swing either. But the coaching staff, including batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and bowling coach Morne Morkel, have defended him and trusted his abilities, and the lanky left-hander can be one hit away to get his confidence back.

Not only Abhishek, but the finger spinners have also troubled Indian batters in general, and one man has come to rescue each time during the tournament. They were 77 for 6 against the USA at the Wankhede Stadium before skipper Suryakumar Yadav's special helped them put a good score. Against minnows Namibia, it was a complete show with Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya scoring half-centuries, but Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus troubled Indian batters with spin and picked four wickets. Kishan came up with a gem of an innings against Pakistan to set them up, but Agha and Saim Ayub troubled the batters.

The Dutch saw the weakness of Indian batters by introducing Dutt in the first over, and he immediately struck to remove Abhishek. Dutt also accounted for Kishan and troubled Tilak Varma and Co. Shivam Dube after an initial struggle broke the shackles to give India momentum and a winning total.

Proteas have spin options in skipper Aiden Markram, George Linde, and Keshav Maharaj to exploit India’s weakness on slow pitches.

Dutch took the game closer in chase, like the USA, to give the World champions plenty to ponder. The fielding has been sloppy, and many matches have been dropped in pressure situations. Team India batters have been trying to come up with solid answers to counter spin during their training sessions in Ahmedabad and also working on fielding, which can prove critical in the Super Eights.