'It's up to BCCI to decide': Indian head coach on his Test future after two series whitewashes at home
The heat increased on the Indian head coach after the hosts lost 0-2 to South Africa in the second whitewash at home in the last three series, as the Test form continued a freefall for the two-time WTC finalists. South Africa won the second Test by 408 runs to hand India their heaviest defeat.
Team India's head coach Gautam Gambhir was under fire once again as he faced a barrage of tough questions, asked out of care and respect the Test cricket deserves in the country, given that the two-time WTC finalists have lost five out of their last seven matches at home in the form, including a couple of clean sweeps against New Zealand and South Africa. Gambhir's position as the red ball coach has come under scrutiny even more, given India have lost 10 out of 19 Tests under him, while winning seven of them.
"It is for the BCCI to decide," Gambhir said in the post-match press conference after being asked about his position of being at the helm of the red-ball side. "I've said it during my first press conference when I took over as the head coach. Indian cricket is important; I'm not important. And I sit here and say exactly the same thing. Yes, people can keep forgetting about it.
"I'm the same guy who got results in England as well, with a young team. And I'm sure you guys will forget very soon because a lot of people keep talking about New Zealand. And I'm the same guy under who, we won Champions Trophy and Asia Cup as well. This is a team which is learning," Gambhir further said.
The Indian head coach reiterated that he didn't want to make an excuse, but said that it was a team in transition and most of the batters hadn't played more than 15-20 Tests, hence they need more time to come up to speed in Test cricket, but did acknowledge that the collapse in the first innings wasn't forgivable.
"We need to play better. From 95/1 to 122/7 is not acceptable. You don't blame any individual or any particular shot. Blame lies with everyone. I never blamed individuals and won't do it going forward," he added.
India dropped below Pakistan on the World Test Championship (WTC) points table in fifth place, while the Test team finds itself nowhere with tours to Sri Lanka and New Zealand left in the cycle, apart from the five-match home Border-Gavaskar Trophy in early 2027 against Australia.
India will need a lot of soul-searching to be able to fight back, especially in Test cricket, as they failed to make it to the final the last time around and will need to come up with a different mindset, approach and most likely the personnel to deal with the highs and lows and the grind of the longest format of the game.