Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], December 6 : Following India's ODI series win against South Africa, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir came down heavily on his critics for advocating the split coaching across red-ball and white ball formats and on media for not pointing on absence of in-form skipper Shubman Gill during their 0-2 whitewash loss at home against South Africa before the 50-over leg of the series.
Before Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli took the ODI series by storm and the festivities on account of their runs and limited appearances started, the cricketing fraternity in India was confronted with another reminder of India's withering Test dominance at home. After a 0-3 loss to New Zealand last year at home, their first home series Test loss in 12 years, the Proteas handed them a 'deja vu' feeling of humiliation with a 0-2 whitewash.
In the first Test at Kolkata, India had failed to chase down a paltry total of 124 runs and missed the presence of Gill, who had injured his neck in the first innings just four balls into his batting. During the second Test at Guwahati, India was outclassed in every department, and superb performances from spinner Simon Harmer and all-rounder Marco Jansen handed India their biggest Test loss ever, by 408 runs. This series, another whitewash in two back-to-back years, marked one of the lowest, if not the lowest, points of Indian cricket.
Speaking during the post-match presser, Gambhir came hard on the media for not pointing out the absence of Gill in both Tests, an in-form batter who had just produced a 754-run series in England months back, which left India depleted of experience and batters who could provide a mix of stability and calculated aggression only their captain could provide.
"There were a lot of talks, no doubt, because the results did not go in our favour. But the most surprising thing is that not once did any media or journal write that our first test match was played without the captain, who didn't bat in either innings. And the difference was 30 runs. Because I do not give excuses in press conferences, it does not mean you do not show the facts to the world or the country," he said.
"When you go through a transition, and in that series, when you lose your captain, who is also your in-form batter in red ball cricket, who has made around 1,000 runs in the last seven test matches. If you lose your captain against such a team, then obviously the results are difficult because you do not have that much experience in red ball cricket. And the surprising thing is that no one even talked about it."
All the discussions about wickets, all the discussions, I do not know what all things were said. And such people also said things that have nothing to do with cricket. An IPL team owner also wrote about split coaching. So this is surprising. It is very important for people to stay in their domain. Because if we do not go into someone's domain, then they also do not have the right to come into our domain," he concluded.
The "IPL team owner" Gambhir was talking about could be Delhi Capitals (DC) owner Parth Jindal, who had posted on X after the series whitewash that India needs a "specialist red-ball cricket coach".
"Not even close, what a complete thrashing at home! Don't remember seeing our test side being so weak at home!!! This is what happens when red ball specialists are not picked. This team is nowhere near reflective of the deep strength we possess in the red ball format. Time for India to move to a specialist red ball coach for Test cricket @BCCI," Parth had posted.
https://x.com/ParthJindal11/status/1993614055702180092
Coming to the match, India won the toss and put SA into bat first.
Proteas lost Ryan Rickelton for a duck and a 113-run stand between Quinton de Kock (106 in 89 balls, with eight fours and six sixes) and skipper Temba Bavuma (48 in 67 balls, with five fours) followed.
Quinton also had a 54-run stand with Matthew Breetzke (24 in 23 balls, with two sixes), and the Proteas stumbled to five wickets down for 199 runs, with Prasidh Krishna (4/66) causing some mayhem. Dewald Brevis (29 in 29 balls, with two fours and a six) and Marco Jansen (17 in 15 balls, with two fours) tried to counter-attack, but a fine spell from Kuldeep (4/41) sunk them to 270 all out in 47.5 overs from a solid position of 234/5.
India chased down the target in 39.5 overs, with Rohit (75 in 73 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) putting a 155-run stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who got his maiden ODI ton. Jaiswal, who ended with 116* in 121 balls, with 12 fours and three sixes, had put another century stand with Virat (65* in 45 balls, with six fours and three sixes) to end the series in a dominant fashion.
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