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STUMP VISION DECEMBER 05, 2025 | The Indian Eye 43

when they chose not to enforce the means the scars of this defeat will lin-
follow-on and batted again, adding ger, and the road to rebuilding will be
260 runs and setting a target of 549, slow, introspective, and demanding.
they did so with a sense of control The BCCI, however, has reaf-
that India never found. firmed that Gautam Gambhir will re-
What followed in India’s second main head coach across formats. His
innings was not resistance, but resig- record in ODIs and T20Is has been
nation. Harmer’s 6 for 37 dismantled solid, but the Test team under him
a lineup that once prided itself on looks uncertain and underdeveloped.
being nearly impossible to dislodge And with no Test cricket for nearly
at home. Jadeja fought alone with a two years, the next cycle will test not
brisk 54, but India were bowled out just skill but vision. Gambhir’s most
for 140. A 408-run defeat on home difficult job now will be to rebuild an
soil — South Africa’s second-largest identity, not just a squad.
win by runs in their history — spoke The tragedy of India’s defeat is
louder than any statistic or post- not simply that they lost a series, but
match statement. that they lost a sense of themselves.
And yet, the story of India’s de- The grit that once defined Indian
feat did not end on the field of play. Test cricket — the stubbornness, the
It spilled into commentary rooms, refusal to give in, the ability to drag
dressing-room debates, and uncom- matches into final sessions through
fortable discussions about the state sheer defiance — has gone missing.
of Indian Test cricket. Ravichandran The bowlers fought hard in patches,
Ashwin, one of the pillars of India’s Jadeja and Kuldeep showed heart,
golden era, did not hold back on his but the collective will that once made
YouTube channel. He was less up- India nearly unbeatable at home is
set about losing than about the lack no longer visible.
of spirit he saw. “I felt let down,” he Reclaiming that will require
said. “There was no fight.” His crit- more than team meetings or technical
icism of young batter Sai Sudharsan adjustments. It will require rethink-
was stinging but honest. Sudharsan’s ing the domestic red-ball pathways,
14 off 139 balls — the second-slowest recalibrating workload management,
knock by an Indian facing at least 100 redefining leadership structures,
balls — seemed, on paper, like resil- and above all, creating an environ-
ience. But Ashwin argued it wasn’t. ment where young players feel se-
“There was zero intent. He didn’t cure enough to develop their own
put away full tosses or short balls. It’s Test identities — not merely survive.
either technical or tactical — but it For years, India made their
shows insecurity. If a player is inse- Indian skipper Rishabh Pant walks back to dugout after being dismissed by South Africa’s name by doing the toughest thing in
cure, he cannot play well.” Simon Harmer during the fifth day of the second test match (ANI) cricket: mastering Test matches at
This is a serious indictment of home. Now, with two whitewashes in
the team environment. When young nerve. While the IPL is a global phe- The ripple effect of the defeat two years, they face an even tougher
batters are unsure whether to de- nomenon and a financial lifeline for goes beyond this series. India’s po- challenge: rediscovering what made
fend, attack, or merely survive, it the sport, the argument that India’s sition in the World Test Champion- them great in the first place.
reflects a leadership vacuum and a red-ball skills are deteriorating amid ship has taken a serious hit. Already If Indian Test cricket is to rise
culture struggling to support its own. the T20-heavy calendar is not without wounded by the 3–0 loss to New again, it must do so not with nostal-
Anil Kumble, another titan of In- merit. Defensive technique, batting Zealand last year, the fresh 0–2 de- gia but with honesty — the kind that
dian cricket, went further. He called patience, ball-leaving skills, and even feat leaves their chances of reaching this defeat has forced upon them.
India’s performance a “complete the mental habit of constructing long the WTC final hanging by a thread. Only then can the fortress be rebuilt,
surrender,” lamenting the constant innings are not muscles T20 cricket Worse, India will not play another brick by brick, session by session,
changes in playing XIs, batting or- trains. And against a disciplined Test Test until August 2026. The long gap fight by fight.
ders, and role definitions. Such insta- attack like South Africa’s, those mus-
bility, he argued, erodes confidence cles need to be at their strongest.
and hampers development. Kumble If India looked underprepared,
also highlighted the vacuum left by South Africa looked meticulously
the simultaneous exits of Rohit Shar- drilled. Bavuma’s side knew exactly
ma, Virat Kohli and Ashwin from how to attack India’s weaknesses:
the Test setup. Losing three of Indi- exploit the young batting lineup’s in-
an cricket’s most influential red-ball decision, build pressure through re-
minds in quick succession has left a lentless accuracy, and let the pitch do
hole too deep for just one season’s the rest. Their superior game aware-
worth of young replacements to fill. ness showed in small details — leav-
Meanwhile, former South Af- ing balls outside off stump, rotating
rican batter Herschelle Gibbs trig- strike against spinners, waiting for
gered a different debate altogether: bad balls, protecting lower-order
India’s shifting cricket priorities. His partners. Their fielding was sharper,
blunt remark — “Shorten IPL and their bowling tighter, their body lan-
play more Test cricket” — struck a guage more assured.

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