India’s 2-0 home defeat to South Africa has left the team in serious trouble. They are fifth on the World Test Championship table with just 48.15 percent points halfway through their cycle. The 408-run loss in Guwahati was their biggest ever. But what is more worrying is how head coach Gautam Gambhir is framing this failure, and how South Africa’s success with a far less experienced team exposes the holes in his argument.
WTC Points Dilemma
India have played nine out of eighteen Tests in this WTC cycle. Only top two teams go to the final. With 48.15 percent points, India is far from safety. The series defeat against South Africa has made the path to the final very difficult.
In Guwahati, India had South Africa at 246 for six. They let them reach 489. That is not bad luck. That is poor cricket. India failed to capitalise on key moments and numbers don’t lie. India is sinking in the championship race.
Gambhir’s Press Conference Defense
After the Guwahati disaster, someone finally asked Gambhir the big question. Are you the right man for this job? He took some blame. Then he listed his achievements.
He said it is up to the BCCI to decide. He reminded everyone that Indian cricket matters, he doesn’t. He pointed to results in England with a young team. He mentioned the Champions Trophy and Asia Cup wins. He said people forget these things. He said everyone keeps talking about the New Zealand series, but this is a different team.
Gambhir argued that comparing the two series is wrong. He said he never makes excuses. Then he made excuses. He pointed out that four or five batters in the top eight have played less than fifteen Tests. He said they need time. He said they are learning on the field. He said Test cricket is tough against quality sides. He said you must give them time.
Experience Excuse vs Reality
Gambhir’s story sounds reasonable until you look at the facts. Yashasvi Jaiswal is one of the finest openers in the world at present. KL Rahul has played more than 60 Tests. Rishabh Pant has been around for years. Ravindra Jadeja has played almost 90 Tests. These are not kids learning on the job. These are seasoned campaigners.
All of them were in good form before this series. Yashasvi was scoring runs everywhere. KL looked solid. Pant was finding his rhythm. Jadeja was reliable as always. So the inexperience argument does not hold water.
South Africa’s Success With Rookies
Now look at South Africa’s team. Six of their playing eleven were on their first ever India tour. Their top order batters do not even average in the forties, forget fifties. They lost Kagiso Rabada, their best and most experienced fast bowler.
Yet they won. They won 2-0. They won with a margin of 408 runs in the final Test. They used what they had and made it work. They turned rookies into match-winners. They turned limitations into strengths.
They did not talk about inexperience. They talked about execution.
All-rounder Selection Mistake
Gambhir’s team keeps picking three allrounders. Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and now Nitish Kumar Reddy. This gives batting until number eight and six bowling options. Sounds smart. Works on paper but not in reality.
The result? India loses control from winning positions. They lack a fourth frontline bowler when they need it most. They pick allrounders but lose wicket-taking ability.
This also means strike bowlers get overbowled. There is a direct link from Australia’s tour to Jasprit Bumrah’s back issues. Then his limited play in England. Which forced Mohammed Siraj to bowl way too much. All because management insists on three allrounders.
Right-Left Combination Obsession
The team is obsessed with having a right-left batting combination. This comes at the cost of picking the best players for the best positions. Nitish Kumar Reddy is the clearest example. Gambhir does not seem to have a clear plan for a successful Test unit.
His own comments suggest he believes players are not applying themselves. He does not take accountability for his own choices. Gambhir and entire management should answer for squad composition, pitch demands, and poor handling of Bumrah and Siraj’s workload. India’s cricket resources are vast. If South Africa can find golden players, India can too. Unless the talent pool has dried up overnight, the coach must share the blame.
Previous Coaches vs Current Record
India had lost just four home Tests in nine years under three different coaches (Anil Kumble, Ravi Shastri, and Rahul Dravid). Gautam Gambhir has lost five home Tests in just over a year. He has won two series, but those came against Bangladesh and West Indies. That does not calm the growing tension.
Gambhir took over a team in transition. Big players retired under his watch. The bowlers are world-class. Young batters scored runs in England. So talent is not the problem. The problem is something else.
Deep Issues Need Acknowledgment
The easy temptation is to swap a few faces in the backroom and imagine the tide will turn. Cricket has never been that obedient. The issues sit far deeper; in places the system doesn’t always want to look. Recognition must come first; only then can anything meaningful shift.
Players, for all their muscle and bravado, move through the game with a certain fragility. They wait for the people running the sport to read the signs honestly and respond with purpose. A team needs long-range thinking, not hurried patchwork. Think in terms of surfaces, not slogans. Choose players built for those conditions and give them the space to ready themselves. Stop flinging them across formats as if all cricket is the same. Let them settle, breathe, grow into one role before asking more of them.
Test cricket has never bent to shortcuts. It demands patience, and it remembers who tried to cheat the process.
India is learning this the hard way. The home fortress has cracks. South Africa showed how deep those cracks are. And they did it with players who had never seen Indian pitches before. That should worry Gambhir more than any toss or injury.
