mid-day highlights the reasons behind Gautam Gambhir’s Team India getting whitewashed by South Africa on home soil
Nitish Kumar Reddy and Sai Sudharsan
Questionable selection
Team India’s selection during the series was inconsistent, lacking strategic clarity. The tendency to favour all-rounders over dedicated Test specialists has come under severe criticism. This led to an inconsistent batting order, weakening the quality and depth that specialists provide. Playing pace-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in Guwahati was a wrong move given he barely bowled in the second Test, delivering only 10 overs in the game and batted at No. 7 and No. 9, scoring 10 and 0, respectively.
Batters lacking patience
The series also highlighted a lack of patience and application by India’s batters. In the second Test, on a pitch described as a “road” by Kuldeep Yadav, India were bundled out for 201 in reply to SA’s 489, largely due to poor shot selection possibly rising from an unwillingness to play a long innings. The wrist-spinner, batting at No. 9, showed how it’s done by surviving 134 balls in the first innings. India batters consistently failed to build big partnerships, losing wickets in quick clusters — from 95-1 to 122-7 — in the second Test. Similarly, the team collapsed from 109-2 to 189 all out in the first innings at Eden Gardens.
Inability to play spin at home
THE team’s vulnerability to play spin on home soil has been brutally exposed with SA offie Simon Harmer emerging as the architect of India’s collapse in both Tests. He claimed a match haul of 8-51 in the first Test and returned 9-101 in the second, including a career-best 6-37 in the fourth innings in Guwahati on a track where Indian spinners struggled to bowl out the Proteas in the second innings. Harmer, ably supported by Keshav Maharaj, exposed how the Indian batters lacked in technique and footwork against spin.
Bowlers failing to make an impact
The Indian bowling attack seemed to be over-relying on the pitch to generate wickets rather than being proactive with their wicket-taking plans, which is why they failed to restrict SA’s batters. The bowlers performed well in the Kolkata Test, but conceded some vital lower-order runs when the match seemed to be in India’s grasp on Day Three. The Guwahati Test was an even bigger failure for the Indian bowlers as they failed to create consistent pressure. Their defensive approach allowed SA’s lower-order batters to compile a massive 243 runs for the last four wickets on Day Two. The bowlers failed miserably in the second innings too, as SA declared at 260-5.
No clarity at No. 3
India lacked stability in their batting positions, especially at the crucial No. 3 spot. In this calendar year, the team management shuffled several batters at that position, including using two different players in as many matches in this series. All-rounder Washington Sundar was asked to bat at No. 3 in the first Test, while Sai Sudharsan stepped in for the second. However, he struggled, scoring just 14 runs off 139 balls in the second innings. Sundar, despite a respectable show with the bat (29 & 31) in the first Test, was demoted to No. 8 in the second innings.
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