The steep fall in performance of the Indian team in Test cricket isn’t hidden from anyone. From being the best touring team not too long ago to struggling to win Test matches at home, the decline has been well-documented. In October 2024, India lost their first Test series on home soil after 12 years, getting blanked 0-3 by New Zealand, and just a couple of months ago, South Africa inflicted another 2-0 whitewash against the two-time World Test Championship finalists.
The one man who’s faced the most flak is head coach Gautam Gambhir. With the team in transition, Gambhir has absorbed blow after blow while standing up for his players, even as the narrative has hardened into one that pins every setback in Indian cricket on the head coach. However, amid this barrage of complaints, former India pacer Munaf Patel has come to Gambhir’s rescue, insisting that if anyone is to be blamed for the current situation of India’s Test cricket, it’s the BCCI.
“Gautam Gambhir’s thinking is very different. His cricketing thought process is unlike anyone else’s. He has performed well when playing cricket and has won trophies as captain. The players of the current Indian Test team don’t even have 100 Tests between them, which is the team that played in England,” Patel, the 2011 World Cup winner, said on the YouTube podcast Breaking Sports with Vivek Sethia.
“Why we are losing at home is because our batters don’t know how to play spin. And the BCCI is at fault for it. They have stopped offering turning pitches in domestic cricket. They have made it mandatory that at least 6mm of grass be on pitches. How will it turn?”
Blaming Gambhir not fair
While the Indian T20I team has gone from strength to strength, winning one series after another and hardly breaking a sweat, the ODIs have been a mixed bag, losing in Australia and to New Zealand while winning against South Africa. Tests, however, are where the dip seems to be instrumental, with the team failing to reach last year’s WTC final and languishing at sixth in the current 2025-27 cycle. Munaf reminds Gambhir isn’t the one who is playing. His role is that of a coach, and as long as batters are better equipped to play on turning pitches, things won’t improve.
“Earlier, our curators would prepare pitches as per our strengths. And hence, when India plays at home, we dish out turning wickets. So clearly, you don’t understand where to get your feet and bat. Everyone’s blaming Gautam Gambhir. He’s being unfairly targeted. He is not batting out there. The ones who are, aren’t prepared enough,” he added.
“These are new players, new era. You are tampering with the system and blaming Gautam Gambhir for it. It’s not fair. The reason we won the Champions Trophy and ODIs/T20Is is that the wickets are the same. We’re losing in Tests because the pitches there are different. Why are you targeting one person? He is a good coach. He’s won you an ICC title and drew the Test series in England.”
