Indian Test Cricket Hits A Nadir!! Indian Team Suffers 2nd Series Whitewash On Home Turf In 12 Months !

Amidst the highs attained by by 'Men In Blue' in white ball cricket with the Champions Trophy,
Asia Cup and T20 WC triumphs, the Indian team has plummeted on a downward trajectory
in Test cricket over the last 12 months.

What has sent an alarm bell ringing around Indian cricketing circles is the dominant Indian
red ball unit being clean swept by visiting teams on their very home turf.
Right from Azhar to Dada to MSD to the RoKo era, the Indian team had built a fortress on
home soil with a spree of bilateral series wins over three decades. Shockingly, the sub-
continent tigers have been whitewashed twice at home in the space of 12 months.
From the 40-odd bilateral series played b/w 2000 and 2023-24 under MSD; Virat Kohli and
Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, India had won a staggering 32 series, drawn 5 and lost just 2
series.

Ever since Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach, India have lost 2 series out of the 4
played at home. Both the series losses to SA and NZ were embarrassing whitewashes!!
Being clean swept by South Africa ( 2-0) was India's 2nd whitewash after New Zealand
whitewashed them 3-0 last year .. 5 losses in the last 7 Tests matches on home turf is a
tough stat to digest!! A rarity in India's Test history and the massive disappointment and
anguish among cricket crazy fans is but obvious.
A monumental 400+ run defeat to SA at Guwahati that rounded off the 2-0 series defeat
added insult to injury.!

Who's is to blame?

Who is to blame for the shambolic performance in the SA series .. Gautam Gambhir- The
coach?? The selection?? The players?? The pitches??

The pitches?? The think tank asked for a turning track at Kolkata; instead were outfoxed by
the SA spinners chasing 120-odd at the Eden Gardens.
The players?? The Indian Test team is still in transition post the retirements of stalwarts like
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin!! Yet, it is not completely inexperienced with KL
Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Md Siraj having played substantial
Test cricket.

The selection? Playing all-rounders instead of specialists.!! Playing just 3-4 batters and
slotting in 3 all-rounders hasn’t quite worked in the red ball format.
Too much chopping / changing the batting order?? The all-important No.3 spot isn't fixed in
India’s red ball unit!! It has been playing musical chairs ever since Cheteshwar Pujara went
out of favour.

The lack of temperament among Indian batters to grind out sessions was clearly on display
!! One too many reckless shots played by experienced players did cost us dearly..
Tame surrenders against spin hurt India dearly. Indian batters showed vulnerabilities against
spin and fell cheaply to Harmer, Maharaj and even Muthusamy!! Has our strength at playing
spin become our weakness?

Has too much of white ball cricket taken a toll on Test cricket or youngsters getting into the
Test team on the back of white ball accolades not good enough for the purist format??
White ball glory is definitely to be applauded, recognized and cherished but the real worth
of an international team will be determined by their success in red ball cricket.
Indian cricket needs to dig itself out of a deep hole in the Test format and some hard
decisions ought to be taken!!