India’s young batters need more time, says Gambhir after record Test loss

India’s young batters need more time to gain red-ball experience, coach Gautam Gambhir said after his team suffered their heaviest loss by runs in Test cricket as South Africa earned a 408-run win in Guwahati on Wednesday to sweep the series 2-0.

Gambhir’s own coaching style also faced heavy criticism as India’s batters folded for 201 or less in every innings in the two-match series, handing world Test champions South Africa their first series win in the format on Indian soil since 2000.

It was India’s heaviest defeat by runs in the format, eclipsing a 342-run loss to Australia in 2004.

“Four or five batters in this top eight have played literally less than 15 Test matches,” Gambhir told reporters.

“And they will grow, they are learning on the job. They’re learning on the field. Test cricket is never easy when you are playing against a top quality side. See you’ve got to give them time as well... this is exactly what transition is.”

Gambhir, who took over last year, was asked if he was the right person to be coaching India’s test team.

“It is upon (the Indian cricket board) to decide... Indian cricket is important, I’m not important,” he answered.

“And people keep forgetting about it, I’m the same guy who got results for the team in England. With a very young team. And I’m the same guy who won Champions Trophy and Asia Cup as well.”

Under Gambhir, India drew a Test series with England in June-July, after winning the 50-over Champions Trophy in March. They also won the 20-over Asia Cup in September.

“If we want Test cricket to flourish in India, we need an overall effort. We can’t put things under the carpet. If you get runs in the white-ball format, you forget what you’ve done in red-ball cricket. That shouldn’t happen,” Gambhir said.

India play South Africa in three One-Day Internationals from Nov.30, followed by five Twenty20 matches starting Dec. 9 as they prepare for next year’s T20 World Cup on home soil.

The thought of playing a Test series in India once struck fear into the hearts of touring sides, but with their fortress now breached twice in the last 12 months local cricket fans know the team’s aura of invincibility on home soil has been shattered.

India did not lose a home Test series for 12 years until New Zealand whitewashed them 3-0 late last year, and while the reverberations from that stunning defeat had grown faint, South Africa’s 2-0 victory has delivered another almighty shock to home fans.

“There was an aura around the Indian team when playing in India. You can see it disappearing in the distance,” commentator Harsha Bhogle wrote on X after India suffered their heaviest defeat in terms of runs in the second Test on Wednesday.

Head coach Gambhir was even booed in Guwahati after overseeing India’s fifth defeat in their last seven home Tests.

“Once lions at home, now lambs to the slaughter,” read a headline in the Indian Express newspaper.

For a generation India had remained, in former Australia captain Steve Waugh’s words, the “final frontier”, where home spinners routinely dismantled touring teams on turning tracks.

“Teams used to be scared to come to India to play test cricket,” player-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik said on social media. “Now they must be licking their lips.

Reuters