Gautam Gambhir was the Toast of the town when the new India Head Coach brought in an ICC Silverware in the White ball cricket format. Little did anyone know that the same successful coach could struggle to build a strong Test Team for the national side.
Gautam Gambhir’s eighteen-month Test tenure tells a sad tale of inconsistent selections, overreliance on all-rounders, and frequent batting collapses.
With India’s horror show in the recent South African Test Series whitewash, Knives are out for the removal of Gautam Gambhir as India’s Head Coach. This article will deep dive into the root causes for the changing fortunes of Indian Test cricket, including selections, team compositions, team mentality, pitch and coaching tactics
Introduction
Long before India saw success in the White ball cricket with Kapil’s Devils, Indian cricket was synonymous with red-ball cricket. India’s dominance at home in Test Cricket with spin-friendly wickets, world-class spinners and an envious batting lineup who could bat long hours in Indian conditions made them an invincible force.
India also changed the script in the last decade, doing well in SENA countries, making them amongst the top 3 Test teams in the world. India, in the process, managed to be in two consecutive World Test Championship (WTC) finals 2019 for the 21 cycle and 2021-23 cycle.
Gautam Gambhir Era
With India at the peak of Test Cricket ratings, Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach in July 2024. Unfortunately, since his reign as the new head coach of the Indian national test team, there have been signs of cracks in Indian Test cricket, which saw them miss the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) finals after being a frontrunner during most of the WTC Cycle. Back-to-Back Test series, including their first Test series loss against New Zealand at home, clearly showed that not all was going right in the Gautam Gambhir Era.
Why is Indian cricket seeing this slump? Why are we losing Test matches, or even worse, losing Test series at home? What has changed for Indian Test cricket with Gautam Gambhir being at the helm today?
White ball success, but a painful struggle in Red Ball cricket
With Silverware in ICC Champions Trophy and Asia Cup 2025, Gambhir’s credentials as a white ball head coach were given the due respect.
Unfortunately, success in white-ball cricket could not be replicated in Test Cricket. This has led experts to argue that Gambhir’s style of coaching is more suited to the fast-paced T20 and ODI formats, rather than the tactically challenging Test format, which requires discipline, patience, a long-term outlook, and a different style of play.
The strategy of constant cutting and chopping in the playing eleven went against the coach and the team. Gambhir’s Coaching is more impulsive for a game that requires the demand to grind 100-150 overs, if need be, with temperament and classical old-fashioned test cricket techniques.
Lack of Long-Term Vision
Test cricket is a slow process from building a team to persisting with the chosen team for a longish period of time for the team to see consistent and long-term Test dominance, unlike the shorter formats, which require match by match tactical corrections. The test culture in India thus showed a decline since Gambhir took over.
Selection Flaw
The selection of some players in the longer format of the game often felt reactive and not strategic in nature. This often led to constant change in the playing eleven, sometimes even in identical match scenarios. The irregularity in the playing eleven has also caused a sense of doubt within the team and players now play more for their own selection rather than play for the team.
- Overemphasis on “All-Rounders / White-Ball Talent”
Gambhir saw success in all-rounders in the white ball format, but his over obsession to have 3-4 all-rounders in a Test team that requires specialists has not only backfired but also brought confusion in the team strategy and long-term goals. This saw some match winners like Ravichandran Ashwin sit out in Test matches and replaced by a player who could bat better. Unlike White ball cricket, Test cricket needs long-term player grooming as the style of play is different.
Issues with Seniors in the Team
Gautam Gambhir, known for his straightforwardness and wanting to take test cricket in a new path, often has ruffled a few feathers, especially amongst the settled senior players in the squad.
After being dropped and replaced by others, Ravichandran Ashwin finally took the call to retire from the format he dominated for a decade. This also raised a few eyebrows from ex-cricketers from all countries who believed Ashwin was good to play for another 2-3 years at least.
Test stalwarts like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli too suffered a similar fate in the past 1 year.
India’s No. 3 and 4 Batsman Problem
With Virat Kohli out of the frame, India has since struggled to have a steady No 3 / No 4 batsman, often considered the batting engine room. This position is often reserved for the best batsman in the team. Chetashwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar – ‘The God of Cricket’, held this position for the last 2 decades.
Selection in the Test Team – not made on competence but on other factors
The current Indian team, unlike previous Indian test teams that saw success under coach Rahul Dravid or coaches before him, lacks players with a substantial first-class 4-day record to justify their inclusion in the Indian squad. Most current players are included on the basis of their white ball prowess in domestic, IPL or International cricket. This is also the reason why the current team lacks specialists and are all mix and match players ideally suited for White ball cricket. Domestic Players who came into the Indian team purely by merit, like Sarfaraz Khan, hardly got an extended round, which questions the rationale behind team selections.
The South Africa series whitewash has proved that India’s plans backfired and a major portion of the blame goes to the coach.
Are we overestimating India’s strength at Spin?
Traditionally, over the years, India has been the best exponent of spin bowling, both with ball and bat. Pitches at home were made rank turners to target visiting teams who would struggle to play Indian spinners from the 2nd day onwards of a Test match.
While turners were made to bamboozle the visiting team, recent times have seen India struggle more on spinning tracks.
The quality of the current Indian spin bowling is a shadow of India’s past strength as a spin bowling heavyweight. This has helped batters of the visiting teams to do well.
In contrast, visiting teams now come with 2-3 world-class spinners who sometimes outshine the Indian spinners with their guile, pace and spin.
In recent times, Indian batsmen have struggled against spin with poor batting technique.
Under the Gautam Gambhir era, India continued making turning pitches at home but failed to exploit the home advantage with an ill-equipped side. This has given India diminishing returns. The New Zealand and recent South Africa whitewash completely exposed India’s current struggle against spin at home.
Knives are out for Coach Gambhir, as the current head coach is still defending the choice of the team wanting to play on turning pitches. Critics point out that the coach’s assessment of the current Indian team’s readiness and competence is wrongly read, which has been India’s current poor showing at home.
Test Venues in India
BCCI’s eagerness to spread cricket in every part of the country has been widely appreciated, but trying to schedule Test cricket in multiple venues in the country has been counterproductive. When smaller venues get hosting rights for crucial Test matches, the Indian team lacks experience in playing in such venues, making it an alien environment for the home team, too.
India’s must-win second test match, played in Guwahati, a venue hosting their maiden Test match, played into the hands of the visiting team, and outplayed India with pace and bounce.
Former Test captain, Virat Kohli, had suggested in the past to limit Test venues in India, like Australia, so that India can have experience playing on these surfaces and make it into their very own Test fortress.
Summary
The Indian team’s lack of adaptability to play either spin or pace and bounce has seen them drop in the Test ranking, and they are currently staring at a scenario of not qualifying for the next WTC finals.
Lack of temperament in the team also mirrors Coach Gambhir’s white ball approach in Test cricket, and India failing to chase modest fourth innings totals
What Should India and Gautam Gambhir do?
- Test Cricket is a game of patience and concentration over flamboyance, and Gambhir’s future tenure as coach of ttesthe Indian team will depend on how he cultivates a Test mindset instead of a team playing Test cricket with a white-ball mindset.
- Create red ball specialists both in batting and bowling
- Avoid constant chopping in the playing eleven
- Defined role clarity
- Balanced Pitch preparation to build a team to play in Indian conditions and not rely too much on rank turners to win Test matches.
- Not over relying on all-rounders.
The recent loss against South Africa is not an aberration and needs to be seen as a loud cry for immediate changes to save Indian Test cricket.
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