It's India's biggest Test defeat by runs.
India have stepped into a new low after suffering a 0-2 clean sweep in Tests against South Africa at home. The reigning World Test Championship (WTC) winners have dominated the hosts throughout the two red-ball fixtures to clinch a historic series win on Indian soil. After the trouncing defeat, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir addressed his sacking rumours in the post-match press conference.
Following back-to-back Test debacles of the Indian team, many had protested to remove Gambhir from the prestigious position. Though the head coach has left the decision to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), he went on to reaffirm his triumphant outings in the ICC Champions Trophy and the ACC Asia Cup. Gambhir also noted India’s brilliant fightback to level the five-Test series in England under his tenure.
“Up to BCCI to decide my future. Indian cricket is important, I’m not important. Yes, people can keep forgetting about it. I’m the same guy who got results in England as well, with a young team. And I’m sure you guys will forget very soon because a lot of people keep talking about New Zealand. And I’m the same guy under who, we won Champions Trophy and Asia Cup as well,” he stated in the press meet.
The former Indian batter has also pointed out the congested schedule as the players failed to adapt to the conditions quickly after returning from their recent Australia white-ball tour. However, previously, Gambhir had urged the players to aspire to feature in all three formats of the game, just after taking up the coaching responsibilities.
“Obviously, scheduling does make a difference. Imagine three days before the start of the first Test, we were in Australia. And suddenly you come back from there, and you have got two days to plan with the Test side. But that again is not an excuse. Sometimes we can probably prioritise this better. We can have more gaps in the middle so that we can probably start working on certain skill sets,” added the Indian head coach.
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Coming on the back of a courageous series draw on English soil and a comfortable victory facing the West Indies at home, the fans had expected a much better performance from India against the defending WTC champions.
But the side’s underwhelming show in both the red-ball fixtures has brought back the painful memories of a 0-3 clean sweep against the Black Caps last year, followed by a disastrous show in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25.
Previously, the whitewash facing the Kiwis had ended India’s 12-year-long streak of dominance at home soil. Furthermore, after successive series victories down under, India’s latest 3-1 defeat also saw them miss out on the Test Championship Finals. The WTC 2025-27 hopes of the two-time runners-up have also suffered a blow, as they are currently placed in fifth place with four wins and as many defeats.
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