This far into the T20 World Cup, anyone paying even passing attention knows of India's batting glitch. India have lost just one of their five matches, but have had a pattern develop even in wins that should delight opposition analysts. Off-spin has been a bug bear and as many as six of them bowling it have cashed in so far.

India have lost 19 wickets to spin this World Cup, with 12 of them taken by offies. Sikandar Raza, the face of Zimbabwe's stubborn resurgence at the World Cup, may have arrived in Chennai with a bruised left palm but he will have a typically fierce urge to join the bandwagon.

It's been a peculiar World Cup for India's batters, who've gone from dominating spin for two years leading up to the tournament, to then develop a glaring flaw for most to exploit. Within this off-spin issue, there's an added layer of concern. Four of the 12 wickets to off-spin have been picked inside the Powerplay, with Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan falling twice each. Salman Agha exploited it first in Colombo by opening the bowling, and Netherlands (Aryan Dutt) and South Africa (Aiden Markram) followed suit with success.

"Obviously we are preparing, we are talking and you know we are planning what oppositions are trying to bowl at them [top-order]. They will bowl off spinners, pacers that are bowling outside the off-stump, and all that obviously you would also know. It's not difficult to make that out," India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak offered.

India's early setbacks against spin have snowballed into deeper issues. Abhishek, their biggest tone-setter, has been stopped in his tracks, and consequently, India have got stuck in the middle-overs where Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma have found it extremely difficult to hit their way out. To their credit, both spent Tuesday evening with an hour-long batting session against spin, where proactively looking for scoring shots seemed to be the agenda.

India have maintained that repeatedly tripping up against spin isn't a concern, and that there will be no dialing back on the brand of batting at least to begin with. But at the very least, it has triggered conversations around the combination at the top. With Abhishek, Ishan and Tilak, India have a left-only top-order which has been susceptible against off-spin. Raza, who opened the bowling in two of his team's biggest conquests this World Cup - Australia and Sri Lanka - will do that again and perhaps bowl more than just the one over to take a stab at India's apparent soft spot.

"There can be changes, yes. And obviously, it goes without saying that we discussed it. Because there are two lefty openers. No. 3 is [also] left-handed. And opposition is bowling off spinner [at the start]. I personally don't think that there is any problem there also. But because we lost [to South Africa].... In three games, we lost a wicket in the first over. Obviously, any team thinks [in that situation]. So, we are thinking and we will see how it goes," Kotak said.

Though the batting coach insisted that no inferences should be drawn from net sessions, it is telling that Samson too had a lengthy hit, alongside Kishan and also indulged in keeping drills on Tuesday. The training session spilled well beyond its scheduled three hours, with Gautam Gambhir and Kotak locked in animated technical exchanges with the batters from behind the nets.

"A lot of technical discussion goes on. The guys are bowling here and this is how you are approaching [it]. What other options do you have? For any batter, not just for Tilak. For Abhishek also, if you would have seen yesterday, the same thing we talked about," Kotak said.

Though another black soil surface awaits India who already have their minds occupied by spin, there is a twisty caveat to it all. Chepauk has not been kind to spinners at this World Cup, yielding the worst strike-rate (22.3) and the second-worst average (30.23) for their kind. This information too would have reached both dressing rooms, and perhaps been received very differently.

Without giving too much away, Ryan Burl admitted to be aware of the Indian batting trend and the spin struggles in the venue, and insisted that match-ups will determine a lot of bowling decisions.

With both teams desperate to do some serious repair work to their negative Net Run Rate, this fixture already carries weight. Within that, however, there's another subplot. India could finally buck an unflattering spin trend or Zimbabwe could just ignite it further.