After losing Tests and winning ODI series, India will face South Africa for five T20Is.
After India were handed a whitewash by South Africa in Tests at home, head coach Gautam Gambhir was heavily criticised over team selection and playing XI choices. However, under the captaincy of KL Rahul, India won the ODI series 2-1 on December 6. Virat Kohli, on the back of two hundreds and a fifty, emerged as the Player of the Series.
Amid the relatively happier atmosphere in the dressing room, Gambhir slammed all the comments and criticisms made by journalists and an IPL owner while Team India was not in a good form.
During the post-match press conference, the head coach made numerous remarks. Speaking over the loss of the Test series against a strong team like South Africa, Gambhir feels the result didn’t go in their favour due to the absence of Shubman Gill.
“The results didn’t go in our favour. But no media outlet or journalist wrote that our 1st Test match was played without the captain, who didn’t bat in either of the two innings. And the difference was 30 runs. When you go through a transition phase and also lose your captain, who also happens to be your in-form batter who made about 1,000 runs in the last seven Test matches, the results are bound to be difficult,” Gambhir lashed out.
The statistics support Gambhir’s statement as Gill has made 1,700+ runs in a calendar year and has struck seven hundreds. Had he not suffered from a neck strain and played at least one out of the two innings of the 1st Test, the result could’ve been different. However, this feels like a bait to move the discussions away from India’s overdependence on a couple of batters, despite having experienced players like KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja in the squad.
Moreover, it also distracts from the pitch controversy at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The experts have time and again pointed out that using extremely spin-friendly tracks at home exposes India’s weakness too against talented players like Keshav Maharaj.
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He highlighted how, reportedly, the co-owner of Delhi Capitals, Parth Jindal, had expressed his thoughts on India going ahead with split coaching. However, Gambhir did not name any Indian Premier League team or call out any names.
Continuing his stance, Gambhir said, “No one spoke about this [absence of Gill] factor. All discussions were happening about the wicket and other numerous things. Some people, who are not even related to cricket, passed their comments. An IPL owner also wrote about split coaching. It was shocking. People need to stay in their respective domains. If I am not interfering, they also don’t have the right to enter this discussion.”
Undoubtedly, the performances of Team India at home have gone down. The hosts have lost two major Test series against New Zealand and South Africa in a span of a year. These results have put India’s participation in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 final in doubt. In the same duration, veteran players Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli also resigned from Tests despite no fitness concerns. While Ashwin has quit all forms of cricket, RoKo are active in the ODI format and are eyeing the World Cup in 2027.
Shubman Gill will return to the Indian squad along with Hardik Pandya. He will join the camp for five T20Is against South Africa, starting on December 9 in Cuttack. Suryakumar Yadav will continue leading the team in the 20-over format.
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