Gautam Gambhir’s 4 blunders that caused India’s biggest Test loss:Ignored batting specialists, worthless experimentation more

In the Guwahati Test, India suffered the biggest defeat in its Test history. The team was defeated by South Africa by 408 runs. Now the question that has made it to the headlines: Is coach Gautam Gambhir responsible for the loss? Or has Team India really forgotten how to play Tests on home pitches? These questions are not arising without reason. In the last 13 months, India has lost 5 out of 7 Test matches played at home. For the first time in the history of Indian cricket, Team India has lost 5 Tests on home soil in such a short span of time. Not only that, in the last year, between November 2024 and November 2025, the team has suffered a clean sweep in a home series for the second time. Following this continuously declining performance, criticism of coach Gambhir has intensified. Cricket experts are questioning his strategies, and many are even saying that Gambhir should quit coaching the Test team. Questioning Gambhir’s coaching – 2 statements 1. Anil Kumble said, ‘So many changes are not necessary’ Legendary spinner and former coach Anil Kumble strongly objected to coach Gautam Gambhir’s strategy of constantly making changes to the team. He said- Test cricket demands a different mentality. So many all-rounders, so many changes, so many reshuffles in the batting order… new players in every other match and dropping two players, this cannot go on. Kumble further added- You cannot expect the rest of the new players to find themselves with 1-2 experienced players. Stability in the team is essential. 2. Venkatesh Prasad said, ‘The obsession with all-rounders ruined it’ Former fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad attributed the obsession with all-rounders as responsible for the loss. He wrote in a social post- India’s Test cricket approach is extremely disappointing. The obsession with all-rounders is completely wrong, especially when you don’t bowl them. Poor strategy, poor skill, poor body language… whitewash in two consecutive home series. Hopefully, this matter will not just be washed away. Gambhir’s 4 Big Mistakes in Tests Mistake-1: Only 3 Specialist Batters Under Gautam Gambhir’s coaching, Team India started emphasising all-rounders heavily in red-ball cricket as well, alongside white-ball cricket. The effect of this was that only 3 or 4 specialist batsmen were getting opportunities in the team. In the series against South Africa, India played only 3 specialist batters in both Tests. Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul played both Tests, while Shubman Gill got a chance in the first and Sai Sudharsan in the second. In the first match, India’s top 3 batters couldn’t do much on a spin pitch, but in the first innings of the second match, all three scored 95 runs. Whereas batsmen from number 4 to 7 together could only score 23 runs. Players like Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel lost their wickets trying to play risky shots. While in this format, there is no special need for such shots. Mistake-2: Too much experimentation in batting order Under Gambhir’s coaching, Team India’s number 3 batting position is not getting fixed. If we look at the South Africa Test, Washington Sundar batted at number 3 in the first match and Sai Sudharsan in the second. Karun Nair was also given a chance at this position, but no player got to hold this position for long. Before Gambhir became coach, India did not have to worry about this position for 25 years. First, Rahul Dravid and later Cheteshwar Pujara handled this position and prevented the team from falling apart in various situations. The number 5 position is also a matter of concern; Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, and Ravindra Jadeja are being tried here. VVS Laxman and Ajinkya Rahane had held this position, but now too many experiments are happening here as well. Due to this, stability is not coming into the team. Mistake-3: Lack of a strike finger spinner Team India is also starting to lack wicket-taking finger spinners. In Asian conditions, a major reason for India’s dominance from 2013 to 2023 was the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. After being clean-swept at home by New Zealand last year, India’s second top wicket-taker, Ravichandran Ashwin, retired. On the Australia tour, off-spin all-rounder Washington Sundar was prioritised over Ashwin. After which, he did not continue playing further. Ashwin was the team’s strike bowler; after his departure, Jadeja was left alone. The new captain is also unable to utilise Jadeja’s bowling as effectively as MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli used to. Team management is now focusing on spin all-rounders like Sundar and Axar Patel, but they don’t seem to possess Ashwin’s wicket-taking ability. In domestic cricket, there are strike finger spinners like Sai Kishore, Saransh Jain, and Saurabh Kumar, but they are not getting opportunities. Mistake-4: All-rounders are proving ineffective A lot of faith is being shown in the all-round skills of Sundar, Axar, Jadeja, and Nitish Reddy. In most matches, 3 out of 4 players are part of the playing-11. Their ability is good, but it’s not working for Team India in Tests. Sundar and Axar are able to make an impact with the bat, but they are not able to perform the role of an off-spinner in the Test team. Jadeja is taking wickets many times, but his batting is proving to be a flop in Asian conditions. There seems to be no point in including Nitish Reddy in the playing-11 in Indian conditions. Neither are runs coming from his bat, nor is he able to perform wonders with his bowling. He is not being given many bowling opportunities either. The team could gain more advantage by giving an opportunity to a specialist batsman instead of him.