Whitewash. Indian cricket enthusiasts probably get horror flashbacks reading or hearing this word. Nothing is more dreaded than failure to even hold a team to a draw in a Test series, home or away. For over a decade, India didn’t have the word ‘whitewash’ in their dictionary.
Under Virat Kohli and then Rohit Sharma, India was competitive away and dominant at home. From January 2013 to December 2023, India lost just 3 Test matches at home. No team had a similar level of authority at home. Yet, less than 2 years later, India has lost more matches in 12 months than they did in more than a decade.
Time running out for Gambhir?
Ever since Gautam Gambhir took over as India’s head coach in July 2024, India’s record at home has been on a slide. India has beaten Bangladesh and the West Indies but lost all four matches to New Zealand and South Africa. The clock’s ticking.
Earlier today, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia expressed the board’s solidarity with the team and coach Gambhir. But nothing beats results. Forget one whitewash to New Zealand; how will the public handle a second whitewash to South Africa?
This isn’t a team in transition either. KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, and Kuldeep Yadav have all been playing for five or more years. That’s eight out of eleven players. Shubman Gill, who’s out with a neck injury, has been playing for over five years as well.
Gambhir has been exceptional as a white-ball coach for India, but red-ball cricket hasn’t been his game. He’s constantly messed up team combinations. Shuffled batting orders way too often. Dropped players despite publicly claiming we backed them, and recently threw the players under the bus for ‘poor batting’ after saying India wins and loses as a team.
Who’ll replace Shubman Gill?
Gambhir will also have to work out who’ll replace Shubman Gill. Stand-in captain Rishabh Pant didn’t reveal who’ll come in for India’s Test skipper but confirmed that the management has made a decision and the player who’ll replace Gill knows about his inclusion.
“We have taken a decision on who will play in place of Shubman. The person who will play knows he is playing,” Pant told reporters in Guwahati.
After Gambhir’s comments on the Kolkata pitch, everyone will be tuned in as to what’s rolled out in Guwahati. He’ll be the one who’ll be questioned if the pitch is too bowling-friendly. If whoever replaces Gill causes the entire batting lineup to change, Gambhir will be criticised again.
In Kolkata, Washington Sundar was told to bat at number three, and if Sai Sudharsan comes, he’ll likely take over the spot. That means, in back-to-back matches, India will have a new number three. To combat Simon Harmer, the management might bring in Nitish Kumar Reddy, but he’ll again be batting as low as number eight despite being a batting all-rounder.
Gambhir has dug himself a hole, and at this point, if he doesn’t win, there’s no way he pulls himself out of it.
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