Gautam Gambhir faces one of the toughest phases of his tenure as India head coach as the Test team is mired in deep crisis, and criticism has intensified now as great spinner Anil Kumble has raised serious concerns about the direction of the batting unit.
India’s Test team has been struggling for stability since Gautam Gambhir took charge in mid-2024. While the former Indian opener’s aggressive approach has brought big results in white-ball cricket, he has struggled in Tests and is now on the verge of losing his second home series.
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South Africa had already won the first Test in Kolkata, and now they are in a strong position to oust India, who were beaten 3-0 by New Zealand last year, by winning the final Test in Guwahati. Amidst India’s flop show, the former Indian head coach has blamed batting for this decline.
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Kumble has said that India’s biggest problem is their unstable batting line-up, adding that the Test team does not look settled after the retirement of a group of great players of modern times. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from Tests in May, Cheteshwar Pujara retired from Tests in August, while Ajinkya Rahane has not been selected since July 2023 and now Shubman Gill is out with a neck injury.
Anil Kumble said on JioHotstar, “The other aspect also, you know, I want to bring up this point about India’s batting. In the last three or four years, you have seen that four of the top five batsmen have either retired or not been selected. You know, if that is the case, you know, Virat Kohli is retired, and Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara are also there, and then you have, of course… Rahane. So, five. Four of them, plus Shubman Gill are not in this lineup. Yes, India captain Shubman is missed, but more importantly, he is missed as a batsman.
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With the departure of so many senior players at once, India’s batting line-up has been shuffled frequently, and constant experimentation has led to confusion which is evident in the team’s performance. After becoming India’s Test captain, Gill moved to the No. 4 spot, and India are yet to find a solution at No. 3 due to Gautam Gambhir’s confusing tactics.
India first tried Karun Nair, then Sai Sudarshan and even gave a chance to Washington Sundar in the first Test against South Africa. But no one could survive. At Guwahati, Sundar was again pushed to No. 8, and he played a courageous innings of 48.
Sundar’s partnership with Kuldeep Yadav kept India together for a while, but the rest of the batting collapsed and the team was bowled out for just 201 after South Africa were bowled out for 489.
Kumble’s collapse in Guwahati highlighted how much the batting order has changed in recent years, especially during Gautam Gambhir’s tenure, and how the top five has been constantly reshuffled.
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Too many changes are upsetting for players: Anil Kumble criticizes Gautam Gambhir
He believed Sundar belonged lower down the order, where his ability to fight under pressure could make a big impact, and that’s what he showed in the first innings in the ongoing final Test.
The great spinner also pointed out that frequent changes in the batting order can shake a player’s confidence and make it difficult for them to find rhythm and settle into their role.
Kumble signed off by saying, “Yes, they will come good; they will be on off days. It’s just a matter of supporting them for the duration of six, seven or eight Test matches. But if you look at the last 10-12 Test matches, the batting order at the top has been up and down.
There have been a lot of changes, so I’m sure it’s been a bit jarring for players as well. So, seeing all this and the effort here, you know, you feel disappointed. You hoped the effort would be better. Yeah, valid point, uh, just in terms of the batting order, a little bit of a shuffling, uh, could be quite unsettling for some of these batsmen.
