Former South African captain AB de Villiers has opined that India has struggled to get going against the spinners in the ongoing T20 World Cup. India’s top order has been found wanting against off-spin and have not been able to provide a good start to the team.

India was left reeling at 26-3 against South Africa and the home team would aim to bounce back strongly against Zimbabwe, which is a must-win game. The Men in Blue were bowled out for 111 in the run chase of 188 against the Proteas and India would need to come up with an improved show with the bat.

“A couple of areas of concern for Team India have cracked up in the spin department. A lot of dismissals when it comes to facing spin and also very low economy rate, which is super odd. When I played against Virat and Rohit back in the day, you hardly ever even looked at the spin statistics of their batters because you knew it was the best in the world. For some reason, that has changed. Maybe an area for them to look at,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma was dismissed against Pakistan and the Netherlands by Salman Ali Agha and Aryan Dutt, respectively. Furthermore, Ishan Kishan was dismissed by South African captain Aiden Markram in the very first over on Sunday.

The Chennai track is expected to be conducive for the spinners and thus, the Indian batters must play with caution against Zimbabwe. India will next take on Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Thursday.