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After India was hammered by 408 runs by South Africa in the second Test at Guwahati, head coach Gautam Gambhir faced the media with blunt honesty. When asked if he still thinks he’s the right man for India’s Test team, Gambhir didn’t dodge the question:
“The blame lies at the feet of everyone starting with me. Start prioritising Test cricket. If we want Test cricket to flourish in India, we have to collectively do it. More than the accountability it’s about the care. This is what a transition phase is and young players would learn on the job,” Gambhir said at the post-match press conference.
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“It is up to the BCCI to decide. I said it in my first press conference when I took over as the head coach that Indian cricket is important; I am not. And I sit here sticking by the same thing. And yes, people can keep forgetting that I am the same guy who got results in England as well with a young team. And I am sure you guys will forget pretty soon. A lot of people keep talking about New Zealand, but I am the same guy under whom, India won the Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup as well. This is a team which has less experience. I have said this before as well, that they need to keep learning and do everything possible to turn the tide,” Gambhir declared during the post-match press conference.
He reminded everyone of India’s Champions Trophy triumph and the tough 2-2 draw in England earlier this year, showing he’s done it before under pressure.
Gambhir didn’t shy away from taking responsibility for the collapse: He slammed the team’s second-innings meltdown:
“We need to play better. From 95/1 to 122/7 is not acceptable. You don’t blame any individual or any particular shot. Blame lies with everyone. I never blamed individuals and won’t do it going forward.”
The numbers make for grim reading. India’s 0-2 loss to South Africa adds to a worrying home trend:
Clean-sweeps for India in Tests at home
0-2 vs SA, 2000
0-3 vs NZ, 2024
0-2 vs SA, 2025
Home series for India with no individual hundred
vs NZ, 1969/70
vs NZ, 1995/96
vs SA, 2025/26
In these two recent games, Indian batters averaged just 15.23—the second-lowest for them in any Test series, after 12.42 on the 2002/03 New Zealand tour.
India’s biggest Test defeats (by runs)
408 runs vs SA, Guwahati, 2025
342 runs vs AUS, Nagpur, 2004
341 runs vs PAK, Karachi, 2006
337 runs vs AUS, Melbourne, 2007
333 runs vs AUS, Pune, 2017
329 runs vs SA, Kolkata, 1996
For South Africa, this was their second-biggest victory margin in India by runs, after 492 against Australia in Johannesburg, 2018. It also marks only their second Test series win in India, the first being a 2-0 sweep under Hansie Cronje in 2000.
India’s two home series losses in two years—0-3 vs New Zealand in 2024 and 0-2 vs South Africa now—stand out in history. Since the 0-2 drubbing by South Africa in 2000, India had lost only two home series before last year: against Australia in 2004 and England in 2012.
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