(LEFT) India coach Gautam Gambhir; (RIGHT) Indian cricket team players including stand-in keeper Rishabh Pant celebrate a South African wicket at Guwahati during the second IND vs SA Test. (PHOTOS: AP)Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad has slammed the Indian cricket team for their “poor tactics and poor skills” after the hosts lost the second Test by 408 runs at Guwahati which sealed South Africa’s serives victory by a 2-0 margin. Prasad singled out India’s ploy of stacking the team with all-rounders but not giving them the opportunity to bowl.
“Really disappointed by how India is going about in Test cricket. The all-rounder obsession is absolute brain-fade especially when you don’t bowl them. Rank poor tactics, poor skills, poor body language and an unprecedented two series whitewash at home. Hope this does not get washed off with Test matches nine months away and this negative approach changes,” Prasad wrote on X.
While Prasad did not name any player, the lens has been on Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has bowled a combined total of 10 overs across both the innings at Guwahati. Former India cricketer and selector Kris Srikkanth was one of those who had pointed his finger at Reddy’s role in the team.
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He then continued: “Need to play specialists and players need to be picked on the basis of Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy in domestic cricket. Can pick in 50 overs based on IPL performance, but for Test cricket, Ranji and Duleep trophy have to be the barometer. Yash Rathod, Shubham Sharma, Baba Indrajith, Smaran Ravichandran are names most wouldn’t have heard of as they don’t play IPL but consistently scoring runs in domestic cricket. Can’t play sub-40 FC average players in the Test team based on IPL performances. Playing all rounders in Indian conditions because he can bat is not the correct approach in Test cricket. Test cricket needs specialists. We all love Indian cricket and it’s sad to see what’s happening over the last year and a half just to somehow prove this flawed strategy right. Can’t function on such egos in the interest of Indian cricket. Truly disappointing.”
India’s chief coach Gautam Gambhir, left, talks to Yashasvi Jaiswal during a practice session at net ahead of the second test match between India and South Africa in Guwahati, India, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
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Former India coach Anil Kumble also criticised the Indian think tank on similar lines.
“It’s not just the loss but the way the result came about. It requires a different mindset when it comes to Test cricket. You can’t have so many all-rounders, so many changes in batting order, so many changes in team itself. Every other game, guys come in, guys get dropped.
“You can’t get players come in and hope they will develop. It can’t happen. That can happen with one or two players and nine experienced. But you can’t have one or two experienced and rest of all are trying to find their feet in Test match cricket,” Kumble said.
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