IND vs SA, 2nd Test: Nobody can really wrap their heads around the things that are going wrong with the Indian Test team. Two whitewashes against SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) countries in a span of thirteen months is not only shocking, but it also raises many questions on the team management and the direction that the Indian team is headed towards. After New Zealand in 2024, World Test Champions South Africa have whitewashed India in their backyard.
Before starting his stint as the Indian Test coach, Gautam Gambhir had very specifically said that he wants to build a team that can score 400 runs in a day, but India failed to cross even the 200-run mark on the final day of the Guwahati Test. Win was always out of equation for Rishabh Pant's men in the final game of the series, all they had to do was bat out the entire day to deny South Africa their 2-0 win, but it was too much to ask from a team which barely has any direction at the moment.
South Africa never started this series as favourites, but they ticked all the boxes across both the Test matches. With 489 runs in the first innings of the Guwahati Test, South Africa had almost eliminated the chances of India winning the Test match and drawing the series. India just played catchup and hardly ever looked like worthy contenders as compared to the Proteas. What's more baffling is the fact that only two individual fifties were scored by Indian batters across both innings.
Just like Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner, Simon Harmer is a name that the Indian cricket team fans wouldn't forget anytime soon. Harmer picked up six wickets in the second innings of the Guwahati Test and left India reeling. This is South Africa’s second Test series win in India after their 2-0 sweep in February-March 2000, and it speaks volumes about how mediocre the Indian Test team has been in the ongoing series.
After the Kolkata Pitch Controversy, India were expected to find their rhythm in Guwahati and level the series. The pitch at Guwahati wasn't bad by any stretch, but the lack of application by the Indian batters made things worse. Courtesy of their brainless and mediocre show in Guwahati, India have now dropped down to the fifth spot of the World Test Championship (WTC) points table.
