South Africa has completed a 2–0 clean sweep against India in the two-match Test series. On the fifth day of the Guwahati Test, while chasing a massive target of 549 runs, the Indian team was bowled out for just 140 in their second innings. As a result, South Africa won the match by 408 runs. Moreover, for the first time in India’s 93-year-long Test history, the team has lost a match by a margin of more than 400 runs.
In addition, this has become India’s fifth defeat in seven home Test matches in the past year. During this period, India has also been whitewashed twice on home soil. For example, in October–November 2024, New Zealand defeated India 3–0 in a three-match Test series on Indian grounds.
Until a year ago, the Indian team was known as unbeatable at home. However, now the same team is being counted among the weakest teams in the world on home turf. Furthermore, over the past 13 months, Pakistan have performed better than India in similar conditions. In fact, during this time, only Zimbabwe have lost more home matches than India.
Since October 2024, India has played three Test series at home. To begin with, New Zealand beat them 3–0. Later, South Africa defeated them 2–0. In between these two series, India managed to register two wins against the West Indies. Therefore, out of seven home Tests, India have ended up losing five matches.
Let’s have a look at the possible three reasons behind this historic defeat of the Indian Cricket team in tests, especially on home turf.
1. Gautam Gambhir’s coaching style is not working
Firstly, since Gautam Gambhir took charge as coach, the team has not performed well in Test cricket. Especially at home, the results have become even worse. Besides this, Gambhir has shown more trust in all-rounders instead of picking specialist players. However, these all-rounders have failed in both batting and bowling. During the South Africa series, India played only three specialist batters in both Tests. Consequently, under Gambhir’s coaching, India’s overall Test record has been poor. Out of 19 matches, the team has won only seven, while it has lost ten matches, and two games have ended in draws. Similarly, in matches played in India, the team has lost five out of nine Tests so far.
2. Disappointing performance by young players
Secondly, the poor form of young players has also hurt the team badly. Over the past year, players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana, Nitish Reddy, Sai Sudharsan, and Washington Sundar have failed to step up when the team needed them most. For instance, in the Kolkata Test, Jaiswal could not score more than 20 runs in three of his last four innings. At the same time, Sai Sudharsan scored only 15 and 14 in his two innings. Likewise, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, and Nitish Kumar Reddy have also failed to deliver strong performances.
3. Unable to handle both pace and spin
Thirdly, one of the biggest problems for India is that their batters cannot handle either fast bowlers or spinners. In the South Africa series, India lost a total of 38 wickets across two Tests. Out of these, pace bowlers took 13 wickets, whereas spinners claimed 25. Moreover, captain Shubman Gill did not play in either innings due to neck stiffness, and as a result, the batting order looked even weaker.
Furthermore, the numbers from the past year make the situation even clearer. Since 16 October 2024, Team India has lost a total of 280 wickets in home matches. Out of these, pacers have taken 182 wickets, while spinners have taken 97. Even more worrying, on home pitches alone, out of 107 wickets, 34 batters were dismissed by pacers, while 73 fell to spinners. Therefore, both the performance and the statistics clearly show how badly India’s Test team is struggling at home.
