India topples below Pakistan at home in Tests:Men in blue face first 400-run loss for first time in 93 years; humiliated with 2nd clean sweep in a year

South Africa has clean-swept India 2-0 in the two-Test match series. On Day 5 of the Guwahati Test, the Indian team, chasing a target of 549 runs, was all out for 140 runs in their second innings. South Africa won the match by 408 runs. For the first time in its 93-year Test history, India has lost by a margin of more than 400 runs. This is the Indian team’s fifth loss in 7 Tests on home soil in the last one year. During this period, India has been clean-swept twice at home. In October-November 2024, New Zealand defeated India 3-0 in a three-Test match series. Until a year ago, the Indian team, considered invincible at home, has now become one of the weakest teams in the world on home grounds. In the last 13 months, Pakistan has also shown better performance than India. In this time period, only the Zimbabwe team has lost more matches at home than India. In the story, find out how each team has performed at home since October 2024 and what are the reasons behind India’s weak performance… Men in Blue could only defeat the West Indies Since October 2024, the Indian team has played three series on home grounds. New Zealand defeated them 3-0, and South Africa defeated them 2-0. Between these two series, India won two matches againstthe West Indies. This means India suffered defeat in 5 out of 7 home Tests. Pakistan’s performance was better than India’s Pakistan’s team is considered weaker than Team India in every format. However, in the last 13 months, Pakistan has also shown better performance than India on its home grounds. Pakistan played 7 Test matches at home during this period. Out of these, they won 4 and suffered defeat in only 3. Pakistan drew the series with this same South Africa
Against the same South African team that clean-swept India, Pakistan drew the series 1-1 at home just last month. Pakistan won the first match of the two-Test series. The second Test was won by South Africa. Both Tests were evenly contested, but the Indian team lost both matches against South Africa in a one-sided fashion. 3 reasons for India’s poor performance at home.. 1. Gautam Gambhir’s approach is not appealing Since Gautam Gambhir took over coaching, the team has not been performing well in Tests. The team’s performance on home grounds has become even more dismal. Gambhir is giving more preference to all-rounders instead of specialist players, and these all-rounders are failing in both batting and bowling. In both Tests against South Africa, the Indian team fielded only three specialist batsmen. 2. Disappointing Performance of Youngsters The weak performance of young players is also responsible for the Indian team’s poor condition. In the last one year, many players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana, Nitish Reddy, Sai Sudarshan, and Washington Sundar have not shown the kind of game that could steady the team in crucial moments. Talking about the Kolkata Test, Yashasvi has not been able to score more than 20 runs in 3 out of his last 4 innings. While Sai Sudarshan could only score 15 and 14 runs in 2 innings. Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, and Nitish Kumar Reddy are also not performing exceptionally well. 3. Unable to play pace or spin The biggest problem for the Indian team is that Indian batsmen are unable to play either pacers or spinners. Against the South Africa series, India lost a total of 38 wickets across both Tests, with 13 taken by pacers and 25 by spinners. Captain Shubman Gill could not play in both innings due to a neck spasm, which made the batting lineup look even weaker. The statistics from the last one year also make the picture clearer. Since October 16, 2024, Team India has lost a total of 280 wickets in home matches. Of these, 182 were taken by pacers and 97 by spinners. Out of the 107 wickets that fell on home pitches alone, 34 batsmen were dismissed against pacers and 73 against spinners.