India may have just clinched the ODI series against South Africa, the celebratory noise is already building and they might win the upcoming T20 series against the same opposition as well, but let’s be brutally honest, it cannot evaporate the stench that the Indian Test team went through these last 14 months especially on home soil. For anyone who genuinely cherishes the spine, soul, and sanctity of Test cricket, the past year and half, have not merely been disappointing, they’ve been humiliating.
No ODI trophy, however shiny, can mask the scars carved into India’s once-invincible home Test record.If getting white washed to the New Zealand last November was abysmal, getting the same treatment doneto themselves against the proteas a couple of weeks back was an utter humiliation.
This meltdown might be coming a few days too late, but perhaps now, when a forgiving Indian cricket fan is tempted to let the bygones be bygones, it’s the responsibility of that same Indian cricket fan to look at Indian Test cricket straight in the eye and call out what it has become.
A mess.
A decline.
A betrayal of standards that once defined an era.
The Fall Of The Fortress
For a decade, touring teams walked into India expecting a ritualistic defeat. That aura is shattered.
In the past one year or so, India have looked – tactically scattered, mentally fragile, technically undercooked, and emotionally disengaged from the ethos that once set them apart.
Losing at home is not a sin, but losing repeatedly, cheaply, meekly, without resistance is. When did Indian Test cricket become so… casual ?
WHERE DID IT REALLY GO WRONG?
A Batting Line-Up Losing Both Backbone and Identity
What used to be a wall is now a collapsing tent. The temperament is missing, the shot selection is juvenile, and the hunger to bat time seems extinct. The most painful part ? This is happening on home soil, on tracks where Indians once batted like sculptors, winning sessions hour by hour.
Selection Chaos – No Stability, No Logic, No Rhythm
Nothing kills Test cricket like insecurity. And India’s revolving-door selection policy has done exactly that.
Different players, shuffled roles, new batting positions every other Test – it is impossible to build character in such turbulence.
Role clarity has been murdered. Specialists ignored.
Random horses picked for random courses. And the team plays like a group of strangers forced into matching jerseys.
Prioritising White-Ball Cricket at the Cost of Red-Ball Craft
Somewhere in the whirlwind of IPL, T20 leagues, and white-ball templates, Test skills the very foundation of Indian greatness have eroded.
Technique is wafer thin.
Patience is unfashionable.
Shot selection is dictated by muscle memory built for 20 overs, not 200 balls.
India didn’t just lose Tests; they lost Test habits.
The Gambhir Question: the blame he cannot duck, can he?
Forgive me, if am crossing the bounds of measured criticism, but this needs to be said without diplomacy –
Gautam Gambhir is not merely adjacent to this decline; he is part of it.
Not the entire reason.
Not the only culprit.
But undeniably, a contributor.
Confusing Selection & Tactical Conservatism
Under Gambhir’s watch, Test cricket has looked like an afterthought. Selection has been inconsistent, directionless, and at times, alarmingly rigid. Players haven’t settled because players haven’t been allowed to settle.
Dressing-Room Atmosphere and the “Transition Push”
Rumours – And they’re not quiet whispers, swirl around Gambhir’s alleged role in nudging Virat Kohli toward Test retirement or at least making the environment inhospitable for his long-term presence.
Are they confirmed ? No.
Are they believable ?
Painfully, yes – because the timing of Virat Kohli’s exit from the red-ball stage feels far too convenient, far too political, far too abrupt. Sure, he was having a ball in the recently concluded one day series, but the damage has already been done. He is no longer a part of the team in red ball cricket.
Removing or alienating the man who carried Indian Test batting for a decade isn’t merely miscalculation – it’s much more then what meets the eye.
And the aftermath shows.
There is no template, no recognisable identity, no sense of what this team wants to be.
Gambhir the tactician seems overwhelmed, Gambhir the organizer seems chaotic, and Gambhir the leader seems too reactive for a format that demands foresight.
The Test team feels like it is freefalling — without a parachute, without a plan, and without the internal belief that it can right the ship.
The fans’ frustration: a betrayal of what we cherished
What hurts most for Indian fans is simple:
We aren’t asking for domination.
We’re asking for dignity.
Fight.
Resistance.
Pride.
Identity.
Basics.
Character.
Instead, we’ve been handed collapses, confusion, empty soundbites, PR spin, and a Test side that looks like it is running on fumes.
And this pain is amplified because India wasn’t just good at home – they were untouchable. Now that legacy has been turned into mediocrity.
This meltdown may be late.
But if it forces Indian cricket – and its leadership – to confront uncomfortable truths, then it will at least have purpose.
Because India can win all the ODIs and T20s they want… but until the Test team restores its pride, its spine, and its soul – Indian cricket will remain incomplete.