Indian pacer Shivam Mavi has also jumped on the bandwagon of ‘what is going wrong in Indian cricket’ after an appalling home Test series against South Africa. The Indian international, who won the ICC Under-19 ODI World Cup in 2018, has questioned India’s obsession with all-format players and has suggested that the management should look at specialist players for specialist roles.
Under the coaching of Gautam Gambhir, India have walked two steps back from where we were as a Test team. Yes, the team is in a transition after the retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, but the successors haven’t found success at all. In fact, India have now lost five of its last seven Tests at home. It is unimaginable for the ones who saw the period of India going unbeaten from 2012 to 2024.
Shivam Mavi’s advice to Indian Test team
Against South Africa, India got completely outclassed. The spinners were simply outbowled, and the batters had no application, while the team selection was questioned from the start as well. That is where Mavi, the former KKR pacer, feels that India could improve in the future. Mavi emphasises that India need to add specialists to the Test team and perhaps play more Test specialists rather than all-format players who find rare time to adjust and accustom themselves to different formats quickly.
“From a bowler’s point of view, I felt that playing domestic cricket is very important. Other countries don’t have 3-format players. Specialists are needed for every position. A team has to pick a great bunch of bowlers. After Ashwin (bhai) retired, it is important to have an able player to replace him. So, India is lacking there. We are leaking runs,” said Mavi while speaking exclusively to Insidesport.
Mavi was also left disappointed to see the Men in Blue get outdone by countries like New Zealand and South Africa at home. For countries whose stronger suit is certainly pace bowling, they are coming prepared for Indian surfaces and are defeating them with aplomb. Whether it’s Tom Latham’s ferocious Kiwi unit or Temba Bavuma’s great WTC champions. The Indian batters haven’t been potent enough to tackle the away spinners, something that Ashwin also alluded to.
“The mindset is totally different when a player is competing in all three formats. Visiting teams are making runs by using sweeps and reverse sweeps. But why don’t we play in our own conditions? If Asian teams play like that, it is much more understandable, but it is SENA countries who are doing so well. So, we can obviously play better than this.”
New low for India under Gambhir
Even though Gautam Gambhir has enjoyed success as India’s white‑ball coach, his red‑ball stint has been downright disastrous. Critics point to his constant tinkering with the lineup, excessive dependence on all‑rounders, and a lack of proper planning for specialist players as major flaws in his approach. In fact, since he took charge, India have implemented 36 personnel changes, which is the highest ever for a Test team since September 2024. He’s also become the first Indian head coach to suffer two home Test series whitewashes.
His obsession with all-rounders has grappled him with various questions. In the second Test, India replaced Shubman Gill with Nitish Kumar Reddy. With the Guwahati surface helping a bit more for pacers, one would assume Nitish’s bowling would be used. However, he bowled a total of 10 overs in the entire game and looked highly undercooked with the bat. Sai Sudharsan was also unnecessarily dropped from the Kolkata Test and now a sword is hanging on his No. 3 spot.
India’s W/L ratio under Gambhir has been 0.700. Only Bangladesh (0.571) and Zimbabwe (0.250) have worse W/L ratios than India among teams who have played at least 10 Tests since September 2024.
Shivam Mavi making strong waves in domestic
As far as Shivam Mavi is concerned, he is on a roll recently. While he isn’t near the international scheme of things as of now, Mavi is doing the best he can in order to gain the attention of the selectors. After taking 13 wickets in the last Ranji Trophy season, Mavi had a superb UPT20 League 2025, where he picked 22 wickets in a title-winning season for Kashi Rudras.
In the ongoing Ranji Trophy for Uttar Pradesh, Mavi has so far taken 10 wickets. Not to forget his 187 runs in four games. He has remained unbeaten thrice before taking a match-winning three-fer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) opener on November 26. Stepping onto the scene for racking up speeds near 150 kmph, Mavi had his injury issues that derailed his progress.
He made his international debut as a pacer battery who can whack sometimes with the bat, the 27-year-old has worked hard on his batting now. He was signed for a whopping Rs 6.40 crore by LSG at the IPL 2024 auction but due to a persistent rib injury, he was ruled out of the entire IPL 2024 season and did not play a single match for the team.
Now, with the performances he is having in the domestic setup, Mavi is pumped up to be one of the most exciting names at the IPL 2026 mini auction, set for December 16.
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