After India lost the second Test in Guwahati by a crushing 408-run margin, their biggest defeat in Test cricket history, former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan was blunt in his analysis of their 0–2 thumping at home to South Africa.
Irfan called India’s cricket “shocking” and noted the team’s severe shortcomings in terms of player-to-player comparisons for the same role in both sides.
It’s quite awkward. It is really scary how India has recently played Test cricket at home against South Africa. This has been ongoing for some time. New Zealand also severely defeated them at home. They lost 0–2 in this two-match Test series against South Africa, and they didn’t even appear to have the batting or bowling ability. In a video on his YouTube account, Irfan said, “Even the South African spinners, like Harmer or Maharaj, bowled much better if you look man-to-man.”
In order to promote stability, the former all-rounder advocated adding more specialised hitters to the Test lineup. Additionally, he expressed disapproval of the strategy of packing the starting lineup with all-rounders, which was used in both of the recently finished series’ games.
“How are you going to keep the game going? You must play all day long. You simply cannot wait any longer. A pure batter is required. You really must have one. It is necessary to make changes. Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Sai Sudharsan are examples of pure hitters in this Test match. All three of them are excellent batters. Your remaining players are all-rounders: some bowling all-rounders, some batting all-rounders, and some wicketkeeper-batters. Having too many all-rounders will make it difficult to fill specialised posts. In Test cricket, we must develop a plan for that in the future,” he continued.
After losing the series-opening match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata by 30 runs, India was in a losing position. On just Day 1 of the second test, they appeared to be on the stronger side. But from then on, whether it was with a bat or a ball, it was all South Africa.
From a batter’s perspective, it was a nightmare series for the hosts. Over the course of the two games, the Indian hitters’ combined average of 15.23 was the second-lowest for them in any home or away Test series. 12.42 from the 2002–03 New Zealand tour remains the lowest.
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