The most dangerous word in competitive sports is not defeat; it’s the fear of it. Indian cricket coach Gautam Gambhir’s insistence on playing on crumbling pitches is a blatant advertisement of India’s strategic coyness.
After India’s ritual collapse in the final innings of the first Test against South Africa, Gambhir doubled down on his philosophy of favoring erratic, rank-and-file spinners who start misbehaving from day one. We wanted the exact same pitchhe claimed. His rationale: it takes these snake pit-type courses out of the equation.
ERROR
Gambhir’s aggro builds philosophy as a strategic genius. But without words, it is a profound act of strategic surrender. The mistake is twofold.
First, there is the tactical paradox: Gambhir argues that these extreme heights take bowling out of the equation. But the reality is that they make the lottery the only deciding factor. By creating a wicket that guarantees chaos by Day 4, he voluntarily maximizes the difficulty of the chase in the fourth innings. When his team loses the flip, they are condemned to bat last on a surface designed to be lethal – a self-inflicted injury.
And that’s what has happened in the recent past – India lose the toss, find the going tough in the fourth innings and crumble. Despite overwhelming evidence against Gambhir’s “throwing out the equation”, the coach refuses to change that.
NO WE CAN’T
Second, and more critically, lies psychological surrender. This approach is built on an implicit defeatist mindset: “No, we can’t chase in the fourth inning.”
The traditional Indian cricket mindset was based on a simple premise: bat as long as possible in your first innings and then bundle out the opposition quickly. This philosophy has made India’s batsmen and bowlers masters of their destiny – not the pitch. For decades, this strategy has served Indian cricket, leading to domestic dominance for the home team.
Gambhir’s tactics turned that logic on its head: by making the pitch the deciding factor, he took batting out of the equation. The underlying message: Our hitters can’t.
This philosophy stands in stark, crippling contrast to the modern, fthe no-ears mentality defined by Bazball– The “yes we can” attitude of teams like England who see every goal, no matter how daunting, as an opportunity to attack, neutralize the pitch with run rate and break the opposition’s spirit.
Gambhir’s philosophy is a strategy of fear and fear, unlike skill, will never win a Test match.
REDUCTION RETURNS
Gambhir’s strategy is even more confusing Visible decline in Indian anti-spin battingespecially in the last five years.
Between 2013 and 2020, India were almost unbeatable at home, winning 28 out of 34 Tests and losing only once. This unbeaten team has now lost 4 of their last six Test matches at home, a consolation win against a depleted, diminished West Indies. The decimation came at the hands of relatively benign bowlers like Ajaz Patel.
India’s dominance during this period was largely due to the Indian batsmen – they averaged 44.05 runs per wicket against all bowling. By October 2024, that average at home had fallen to less than 34.00 – the steepest drop of any major Test team. Later that year when New Zealand visited Indiaonly two batsmen averaged more than 40 – Washington Sundar (as he was not out twice) and Rishabh Pant.
Their main destroyers were Mitchell Santner – 13 wickets at around 12.00 – and Patel, who took 15 at 23.80.
THE CENTRIFUGAL PROBLEM
The diagnosis is clear: Indian batsmen cannot play the spin they used to. The days of Sachin Tendulkar giving Shane Warne nightmares are history.
The problem is backed up by statistics. Almost every Indian batsman has struggled with the corkscrew after 2021. According to an ESPN analysis, the home run average of the top seven hitters since 2021 has fallen from 54.43 (2016–2020) to 38.30. While the bowling averages remained stable, the average against corkscrews dropped over 46.37% from 56.37% to 38.30.
In short, India face a pivotal moment when the historic juggernaut at home is threatened by a stronger opposition spin, the declining form of key batsmen and crumbling pitches.
Erosion of home advantage and vulnerability to spin threaten India’s long-term dominance in home Tests.
Still, Gambhir wants more such rank-turners. His pitching strategy, defended by some as audacious, risks becoming a self-inflicted wound in India’s Test cricket narrative.
And a symbol of bravery masquerading as doubt and devotion.
(Sandipan Sharma, our guest author, likes to write about cricket, cinema, music and politics. He believes they are interconnected.)
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
November 17, 2025
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