NEW DELHI: Group India’s newest humiliation by the hands of South Africa has laid naked the deepening cracks in India’s Check cricket construction beneath head coach Gautam Gambhir. The 408–run mauling in Guwahati — India’s greatest defeat by runs of their Check historical past — not solely sealed a 0–2 sequence whitewash however amplified issues over route, choice, and readability within the red-ball setup.The loss was India’s fifth defeat of their final seven house Assessments, a staggering slide for a workforce that performed the finals of the primary two World Check Championship cycles and as soon as prided itself on being unbeatable at house. The Guwahati debacle additionally marked South Africa’s first Check sequence win in India in 25 years, underlining simply how precipitously India’s fortress has fallen.

Underneath Gambhir, India’s Check journey has been turbulent, even chaotic. The workforce has featured fixed chopping and altering, unstable batting positions, injured or retired stalwarts, and an over-reliance on all-rounders — all including to a notion of muddled planning. India have now slipped to 10 defeats in 19 Assessments beneath the previous opener, and worryingly, their as soon as iron-clad house report has eroded at an unprecedented tempo.Of the 4 house sequence within the Gambhir period, India have claimed victories solely towards Bangladesh and West Indies — sides thought-about comparatively weak. Towards stronger opponents, the slide has been dramatic: a 0–3 whitewash by New Zealand final 12 months, adopted by the 0–2 defeat to South Africa.

India’s away type has been solely barely higher, highlighted by a 2–2 attract England with a younger Shubman Gill-led squad after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired. However that outcome stands as an outlier in a broader sample of inconsistency and confusion.In all, Gambhir’s India have received solely two of six Check sequence, a stark distinction to the steadiness and dominance that outlined the earlier decade. With questions now rising louder about choice technique, temperament, and lack of clear imaginative and prescient, Indian Check cricket seems to be coming into considered one of its most unsure phases.

Gambhir Period: The Numbers That Present What’s Fallacious