All posts tagged: India loses series to South Africa

Gautam Gambhir on his future as Test coach: Up to BCCI to decide… I’m the same guy who got results in England as well | Cricket News

Gautam Gambhir on his future as Test coach: Up to BCCI to decide… I’m the same guy who got results in England as well | Cricket News

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India head coach Gautam Gambhir has said it is up for the Board of Control for Cricket in India to decide if he is the right man to be in charge of the Test team going forward. Ever since Gambhir took charge as India’s head coach in July 2024, their performances in the long format hasn’t been up to the mark. From being a team that looked invincible at home, they have been whitewashed twice in the space of 12 months by New Zealand and now South Africa. Having lost the first Test at Eden Gardens last week, India suffered their largest defeat in terms of runs in Guwahati, where they went down by 408 runs on Wednesday. Given the setbacks in Test cricket, Gambhir was asked if he is the right person to coach in the long format, and this was his reply. “It is up to BCCI to decide. I’ve said it during my first press conference when I took over as the head coach, Indian cricket is important, I’m not important. And …

‘India’s all-rounder obsession is absolute brain-fade, Test cricket needs specialists’: Venkatesh Prasad slams team after loss to South Africa | Cricket News

‘India’s all-rounder obsession is absolute brain-fade, Test cricket needs specialists’: Venkatesh Prasad slams team after loss to South Africa | Cricket News

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Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad has slammed the Indian cricket team for their “poor tactics and poor skills” after the hosts lost the second Test by 408 runs at Guwahati which sealed South Africa’s serives victory by a 2-0 margin. Prasad singled out India’s ploy of stacking the team with all-rounders but not giving them the opportunity to bowl. “Really disappointed by how India is going about in Test cricket. The all-rounder obsession is absolute brain-fade especially when you don’t bowl them. Rank poor tactics, poor skills, poor body language and an unprecedented two series whitewash at home. Hope this does not get washed off with Test matches nine months away and this negative approach changes,” Prasad wrote on X. While Prasad did not name any player, the lens has been on Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has bowled a combined total of 10 overs across both the innings at Guwahati. Former India cricketer and selector Kris Srikkanth was one of those who had pointed his finger at Reddy’s role in the team. ALSO READ | …

‘Abject surrender. So many changes in team, very disappointing’ Anil Kumble slams India performance against South Africa | Cricket News

‘Abject surrender. So many changes in team, very disappointing’ Anil Kumble slams India performance against South Africa | Cricket News

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Anil Kumble didn’t hold himself back after India lost the second Test at Guwahati to succumb 0-2 in the Test series to South Africa. “Today was abject surrender. It required fight, some adjustments, some adaptability , just put your head down and bat. Jadeja showed it … Very disappointing for India. If you look at the four innings, 83.5 overs was the maximum that they batted and that too because of Kuldeep and Washington Sundar partnership,” Anil Kumble told Jio Hotstar. Kumble then turned on the team’s tactics and selection policy. “It’s not just the loss but the way the result came about. It requires a different mindset when it comes to Test cricket. You can’t have so many allrounders, so many changes, so many changes in batting order, so many changes in team itself. Every other game, guys come in, guys get dropped. ALSO READ | Gautam Gambhir’s team buried India’s proud home record without a fight, writes Sriram Veera Next Test is August 2026, you have still time to ponder. But you can’t …

India lose to South Africa by 408 runs, marking heaviest Test defeat by runs margin | Cricket News

India lose to South Africa by 408 runs, marking heaviest Test defeat by runs margin | Cricket News

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The Indian cricket team slumped to a 408-run defeat against South Africa at Guwahati, its heaviest defeat at home by margin of runs. The result means that Gautam Gambhir’s side were swept 0-2 by South Africa in the two-match Test series at home after losing the second Test. Chasing a target of 549 runs in the final innings on Tuesday-Wednesday, the end came in just 64 overs with Ravindra Jadeja being the top-scorer with 54 runs as India managed to score just 140 runs. The 408-run defeat against South Africa at Guwahati edged ahead of the 342-run defeat that India had suffered at the hands of Australia back in 2004 in Nagpur. On third spot is the defeat by 341 runs in 2006 to arch-rivals Pakistan in Karachi. Australia had also defeated India by 337 runs at Melbourne in 2007. The Indians got multiple reprieves in the field on Day 5 with Sai Sudharsan being given a second life thanks to a no ball from Marco Jansen when he was batting on four and Kuldeep …

Gautam Gambhir’s team buried India’s proud home record without a fight | Cricket News

Gautam Gambhir’s team buried India’s proud home record without a fight | Cricket News

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Beating India in India in Test cricket used to be a career goal, a dream for most overseas teams. The ‘last frontier’ as the Australian great Baggy Green-er Steve Waugh termed it. Even he never managed to breach the fortress. These days, that dream is selling free, along with flight tickets to India. First New Zealand with a 3-0 whitewash, without their talisman Kane Williamson, and now South Africa, without their lodestar Kagiso Rabada. And Gautam Gambhir has been the coach who has watched Rome burn on both occasions. Seldom has a long-held dominant home record been surrendered so meekly. Even West Indies’s Test embers at home flickered briefly after the retirement of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. Australia are still hanging on to theirs and hence India’s two triumphs there are treasured. South Africa too denied India even after AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn retired. Losing isn’t a crime, but India have given up the ghost, whimpering out without a fight. It says much that they started the final day of …