The continuous poor performance of the Indian Test team has raised many questions. According to available information, under the coaching of Gautam Gambhir, India has suffered a 0-2 Test series defeat against South Africa for the first time in 25 years. This result has come at a time when efforts were being made to make a new beginning by making many changes in the team, but the situation has not changed as expected.
Let us tell you that India’s defeat by 408 runs in the Guwahati Test has made the weakness of the team clear. When Gambhir was asked about his future in the press conference after the match, he clearly said that this decision will be taken by BCCI. He said that Indian cricket is most important, personally he does not consider himself important. Gambhir said that he is the same person who got results in England, won the Champions Trophy and also won the Asia Cup, but the current team is still in the learning process.
It is noteworthy that Gambhir took the responsibility of the entire series on himself and said that it would be wrong to blame any one player for the defeat. According to him, falling from 95/1 to 122/7 is not acceptable, but every person has a stake in this fall. Gambhir said that he had never blamed individual players before and would not do so in future too.
On the other hand, critics say that Gambhir has been continuously making many changes in the team and in the Test format, he is showing more confidence in all-rounders instead of specialist players. However, Gambhir believes that in Test cricket, it is not the most talented players but the players with limited skills who have a strong mentality who are more successful. He says that the team needs such players who are able to withstand pressure and can play for a long time.
According to available information, Gambhir has also emphasized on the priority of Test format in Indian cricket. He says that if India is really serious about Test cricket, then the board, players and management will all have to work together. He said that it is difficult to move forward by blaming only the players or any one person and a collective effort is needed to make Test cricket strong again.
India has lost 10 out of 18 Tests after Gambhir became the coach. Last time the team was completely changed after the clean sweep against New Zealand, but despite the new faces the result against South Africa has not changed. In such a situation, it remains to be seen whether the board moves ahead with Gambhir in the coming months or decides to find a new coach.