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India's caput manager Gautam Gambhir during a grooming league connected the eve of the archetypal Test cricket lucifer betwixt India and South Africa, astatine Eden Gardens successful Kolkata. (PTI Photo)
NEW DELHI: Team India’s latest humiliation astatine the hands of South Africa has laid bare the deepening cracks successful India’s Test cricket operation nether caput manager Gautam Gambhir. The 408–run mauling successful Guwahati — India’s biggest decision by runs successful their Test past — not lone sealed a 0–2 bid whitewash but amplified concerns implicit direction, selection, and clarity successful the red-ball setup.The nonaccomplishment was India’s 5th decision successful their past 7 location Tests, a staggering descent for a squad that played the finals of the archetypal 2 World Test Championship cycles and erstwhile prided itself connected being unbeatable astatine home. The Guwahati debacle besides marked South Africa’s archetypal Test bid triumph successful India successful 25 years, underlining conscionable however precipitously India’s fortress has fallen.
Gautam Gambhir fiery property conference: On whitewash, Rishabh Pant shot, transportation and more
Under Gambhir, India’s Test travel has been turbulent, adjacent chaotic.
The squad has featured changeless chopping and changing, unstable batting positions, injured oregon retired stalwarts, and an over-reliance connected all-rounders — each adding to a cognition of muddled planning. India person present slipped to 10 defeats successful 19 Tests nether the erstwhile opener, and worryingly, their erstwhile iron-clad location grounds has eroded astatine an unprecedented pace.Of the 4 location bid successful the Gambhir era, India person claimed victories lone against Bangladesh and West Indies — sides considered comparatively weak.
Against stronger opponents, the descent has been dramatic: a 0–3 whitewash by New Zealand past year, followed by the 0–2 decision to South Africa.
India’s distant signifier has been lone somewhat better, highlighted by a 2–2 gully successful England with a young Shubman Gill-led squad aft Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired. But that effect stands arsenic an outlier successful a broader signifier of inconsistency and confusion.In all, Gambhir’s India person won lone 2 of six Test series, a stark opposition to the stableness and dominance that defined the erstwhile decade. With questions present increasing louder astir enactment strategy, temperament, and deficiency of wide vision, Indian Test cricket appears to beryllium entering 1 of its astir uncertain phases.
Gambhir Era: The Numbers That Show What’s Wrong
- India mislaid the location Test bid 0–3 to New Zealand successful 2024.
- India mislaid the location Test bid 0–2 to South Africa successful 2025.
- India suffered their biggest-ever decision by runs: 408 runs vs South Africa (2025).
- India’s Test grounds nether Gambhir: 7 wins, 10 losses, 2 draws.
- India person not won a Test bid vs New Zealand, South Africa, England, oregon Australia successful this period.
- India mislaid 5 of 9 location Tests nether Gambhir.
- India were whitewashed astatine location doubly wrong 2 years.
- India went implicit a decennary without a location bid loss; nether Gambhir they mislaid two.
- Seven batters utilized astatine No. 3 successful 19 Tests.
- Simon Harmer: 17 wickets astatine 8.94 successful the 2025 India series.
- Marco Jansen: 12 wickets astatine 10.08 successful the aforesaid series.
- Aiden Markram: 9 catches successful a azygous Test — astir ever by a fielder.
- India’s batting mean vs SA successful 2025: 15.23, second-lowest ever successful a Test series.
- India dropped to 5th successful the WTC standings.
