The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly reacted to the criticism of chief selector Ajit Agarkar following India’s home defeat against South Africa. After India lost two home Test series in 13 months, Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar will face questions over the team’s recent Test failures.
Under the leadership of Gambhir and Agarkar, India have suffered defeats in two home Test matches. They first lost to New Zealand in 2024 and now to South Africa.
Gambhir has taken most of the blame on himself and Agarkar’s decisions are also under question, especially when more than 30 players have been included in the Test team in two years.
BCCI plans to interrogate Ajit Agarkar after Test defeat
Despite appearing in international games, Ajit Agarkar is facing increasing criticism for not participating in domestic fixtures. His limited appearances in Ranji Trophy matches have widened the gap between the selectors and the domestic performers.
Players with modest first-class records, such as Sai Sudarshan and Nitish Kumar Reddy, were given preference over consistently performing batsmen such as Sarfaraz Khan, Karun Nair and Abhimanyu Easwaran.
A BCCI official said the board will also question the selectors about India’s Test failures, adding that they rely on digital score updates even when they are not physically present in the matches.
Speaking to The Times of India, a BCCI official said, “We will also talk to the selectors (on the Test loss) and as far as watching domestic matches is concerned, every score comes on the app.”
Ajit Agarkar’s presence on foreign tours
Ajit Agarkar had earlier revealed how he had supported young players like Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Rajat Patidar during the England series in early 2024. But at the same time, he should also take the blame for dropping Sarfaraz and Abhimanyu Easwaran from the Test team.
Agarkar has traveled with the Indian team on overseas tours. He was present during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia and again during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England.
However, he has not seen many domestic Ranji Trophy matches. Their last big outing in a Ranji game was in 2024, when Tamil Nadu played Karnataka in Chennai. After that match, Devdutt Padikkal got his first Test call-up.
India’s 0-2 defeat to South Africa highlights issues in Test cricket
India suffered a 0–2 Test series defeat against South Africa at home, its biggest ever defeat at home. This defeat exposed many problems which the team had been ignoring for a long time. Notably, the team has now lost five of its last seven home Test matches, which is a serious issue that cannot be ignored.
The visiting team played smart cricket, especially their spinners, who adopted a different strategy to the home pitches. However, the Indian bowlers did not mix up their bowling and their batsmen had no planning or patience, which led to poor shot selection even on pitches that were not so difficult.
India needs to stop making excuses and focus on getting the fundamentals right. This huge defeat should be a huge wake-up call for the entire team to make serious, sensible changes.
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