After India’s disappointing 1-2 ODI home series Loss to New Zealand, it is time for Team India to introspect and have a reality check. After India lost their maiden Test series loss to New Zealand in 2025, yet another maiden series loss in ODI format to the same opponent has even the most ardent Indian cricket fan being cynical about India’s recent performances under captain Shubman Gill and Head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Introduction
Home series Loss is rare, but India has now lost two maiden home series to New Zealand, which will need accountability. While players will be questioned, shouldn’t the burden of blame also lie on the head coach and the selectors?
While Gambhir got the initial advantage of inheriting a strong winning team by default, Gambhir’s influence over the team in decision making, strategy and team selection cannot go unnoticed in his tenure.
The New Zealand home series loss, both in the Test format last year and the recently concluded ODI series, has exposed the many flaws in his coaching stint, which have influenced individual performances and match results.
The ODI series defeat has unsettled the flawless record that Team India enjoyed at home, in home conditions. At home, Team India has been very dominant, especially in limited-overs cricket. Recently, India looked tactically flawed and mentally weak, a complete contrast to the team handed over by Rahul Dravid to the new coach.
Question over Gautam Gambhir after Home series Loss
Poor planning, preparation and a directionless approach is hurting Team India. Gambhir’s coaching style is now come under the radar after back-to-back home series losses to New Zealand. Team Selections and constant experimentation with the playing eleven have disrupted the balance of the team.
An unsettled team reflects the ambiguity in the team’s thinking process. It also reflects the coach’s rigid and strong opinions, reflecting his authoritative coaching style. Senior Team members in the team, in a short period, have either retired or are playing only one format of the game, making way for the coach to control the younger players in the squad.
Gambhir was also given a free hand by the top management to have his players in the squad even when there were far more deserving candidates in the wings. This also shook the balance of the team, and the lack of clarity of player roles contributed to India’s recent poor performances, the latest being the embarrassing ODI series loss to New Zealand. The Home series Loss looks worse as New Zealand was not playing with their full strength team.
Another criticism of coach Gambhir is the excess experimentation in the team, especially in home conditions, which hardly requires the team to do any knee-jerk changes.
Team tactics were more reactive than proactive. Predictable bowling lineup, lack of innovativeness in field placements, and not having an effective Plan B in place have hurt Team India. The influence of Gambhir, a senior statesman, over a young captain was clearly visible.
With a young captain taking the orders from the coach and not having a presence in decision-making often puts the players in a fix as the game is not run on the ground but off it.
The Home series Loss to New Zealand 1-2 in the ODI Series also reflects the lack of mental strength in the team, with familiar batting and bowling collapses due to repeated mistakes of the past. While Gambhir as a player was known for his mental toughness, he has failed to have a similar mindset in Team India, which was expected.
With his growing influence in the team, Gambhir has been guilty of an over-aggressive play approach, which has often turned into a reckless approach to the game, leading to poor shot selection at crucial moments of the game, which proved costly in most of India’s losses in recent times.
With a young team, a young captain and seniors out of favour, though a collective failure, the burden of failure will still fall on the coach, who has a disproportionate role in the overall functioning of the team during India’s embarrassing loss to the visiting New Zealand team.
The loss has sent shockwaves through Indian cricket with a few days to go before India looks to defend their T20 World Cup crown.
Shubman Gill, the Captain – Did the selectors err on their decision after Home series Loss?
With some poor recent losses under his new captaincy, Shubman Gill has come under intense scrutiny, especially after the recent New Zealand home series ODI loss.
India, under a new captain and coach, was expected to dominate cricket post their World Cup final appearance, Champions Trophy win and T20 World Cup Triumph. But the recent Home series Loss and lackluster performances have raised uncomfortable questions on leadership, planning, timing and selections.
With Rohit Sharma’s success as a captain, Gambhir’s insistence on having a leadership change and backing Shubman Gill as India’s future all-format captain has proved counterproductive.
The recent losses under the new captain, Shubman Gill has made the call look poorly judged and made in haste, with Rohit still playing the ODI format.
The recent home series loss also exposed the new captain of not able to steady the ship when faced with a batting collapse or when the bowling looks clueless.
The appointment as a captain for a young player who is learning the demands of international cricket adds to the pressure for a promising player whose ability as a batsman is never in doubt in ODI cricket.
On Gambhir’s insistence, the T20 team is reshaped to fit in Shubman Gill, resulting in some very deserving players forced to sit out of the playing eleven.
There is no doubt on Shubman as a batsman, but as a captain, he has not shown tactical sharpness on field and lack of ability to manage players in tough phases of the game is glaring.
Fans and former cricketers have openly questioned whether India rushed into the captaincy decision without fully considering the consequences. Focus instead should have been on improving batting depth, bowling corrections, backups and not on prioritising captaincy handover.
Summary
India jumped the gun in naming Shubman Gill as captain in ODI and surprisingly in Test Cricket too when he had not fully cemented his place in Test cricket. Similarly, he was not in the regular playing eleven in the T20 squad but as Shubman was Coach Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy choice for all three formats of the game, he was given a place in the T20 side too. This forced cricket fans to question Gambhir’s head strong approach. Has India erred on Long Term Vision to get Short Term results? Has it blurred the line between vision and vulnerability which has now ruffled the confidence in the Indian dressing room.?
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