When a team is winning, the question isn’t asked. Wrong planning or tactics are either excused. But when you lose, the pile is incessant.
Even the right decisions get questioned. Earlier today, India lost to South Africa by 30 runs in Kolkata. It was the 4th red-ball loss at home for Gautam Gambhir as India’s head coach.
Questions have to be asked. A team that lost just 2 Test matches from 2014 to 2022 has lost 4 in the last 12 months. Let’s dissect what went wrong for India in Kolkata and what they can take away for the Guwahati Test with the aim of levelling the series at 1-1.
6 takeaways from IND vs SA 1st Test
Move away from lottery pitches
The biggest takeaway was the pitch. The surface of Eden Gardens wasn’t fit for Test cricket. Spinning from ball one can be tackled, but to have inconsistent bounce as well and cracks emerging on the second day itself aren’t ideal conditions.
Just 15.63 runs were scored for the loss of a wicket. 60 was the highest combined score for the match. Batters couldn’t hit their shots, which was evident from the first ball. The game lasted 8 sessions with a mere 594 runs scored.
India has both better batters and bowlers in home conditions, but when you make pitches so extreme, the gulf between the two teams decreases. Aiden Markram takes the wicket of Washington Sundar; Simon Harmer handily outperforms Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.
3 all-rounders’ tactic fails
India played Washington, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel. But did they need to? Kuldeep Yadav and Jadeja are the main spinners and did the heavy lifting. Together they bowled 22 out of 29 overs of spin in the first innings and 28 of 42 in the second.
On top, what’s the use of having two left-arm spinners in Axar and Jadeja? Yes, Axar scored runs in both innings, but he took just 2 wickets as the frontline spinner in 20 overs. Due to this, Washington bowled just 1 over in the match. You didn’t use either of them properly. Axar’s bowling was a major letdown, considering how well Jadeja and Kuldeep bowled.
Was Washington Sundar’s batting promotion needed?
Washington was India’s highest scorer in the Kolkata Test. But as mentioned above, he bowled just 1 over in the match. That begs the question, why not play a batter instead? The point isn’t that Washington should have been dropped but rather that Axar didn’t need to be added.
Even in a 5-match attack, all bowlers don’t get the same opportunity. Here, you had 6 bowlers. Axar was underused, while Washington wasn’t used at all. Sai Sudharsan, who played at three against the West Indies but was dropped. Now, if Washington was as good a batter as him, why wasn’t he playing at number 7 or 8 before?
Yes, Washington is a gifted batter, but is he better than Sudharsan or Devdutt Paddikal? Going with all-rounders over frontline players may work in T20 cricket, but not in red-ball cricket. We have seen that a few times already under Gambhir, yet this mistake was repeated again.
Rishabh Pant’s questionable tactics
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj bowled just 12 overs in the second innings. Combined, they took 3 wickets and had the lowest economy of all Indian bowlers. But they weren’t used properly. Rishabh Pant, who was the stand-in captain, didn’t bowl Siraj on the second day. When he was handed the ball, he cleaned up South Africa’s tail in 2 overs.
As for Bumrah, he did bowl 6 overs on the second day but wasn’t handed the ball at the start of day three when India needed just 3 wickets. One has to wonder why this happened. India might have wrapped them at 130 and chased 100, but that didn’t happen.
Shubman Gill’s neck injury
Apart from being India’s Test captain, Shubman Gill has been their best batter as well. No one has scored more Test runs than Gill in 2025. That’s why his absence was felt when he had to leave the field with a neck spasm on the second day. Gill is currently in the hospital and is likely to miss the Guwahati Test as well. If he doesn’t recover, India will be at a major disadvantage and could risk losing the series.
South Africa’s grit & fightback
South Africa’s batting wasn’t at par with India’s. Apart from Temba Bavuma, no other batter could make a case to enter this current Indian lineup, but they scratched their way to respectable totals, especially in the second innings. Bavuma’s 55-run knock is worth more than many double hundreds in the history of Test cricket. From being 30/5 due to India’s 30-run lead, they ended up setting a 124-run target, which was enough for a historic win.
Known for their pacers, it was spin that won the Proteas the Kolkata Test. Keshav Maharaj was off-colour, but Simon Harmer was enough for India. He took 8 wickets for 51 runs in the match. His guile, dip, and turn had Indian batters dancing. But one can’t underplay what Marco Jansen did as well. He cleaned up KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal in 7 balls, and that set the way for Harmer to destroy India.