India’s Jasprit Bumrah and his teammates celebrate (ANI Photo) India’s Test side faces intense scrutiny once again after defeating South Africa. The loss brought earlier concerns back into focus, especially after the recent home whitewash against New Zealand. With a young captain and new head coach still settling in, many feel the team needs to reassess its fundamentals and reevaluate the expectations placed on this group. Former India batsman Robin Uthappa expressed similar concerns. He questioned whether the current squad has the consistency and depth to really consider themselves World Cup contenders. On his YouTube channel, Uthappa said, “Visit teams play less cricket than India and have a lot more time to prepare. There is too much.”
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Uthappa believes that India tries to follow a uniform pattern in every situation. He said: “You go with one size fits all and try to produce results. There has to be a sense of realism about the target for the next two years.” He urged Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill to clearly define their long-term vision for the party. One of his biggest concerns is India’s bowling speed outside the subcontinent. He asked, “Yes, you want to get to the WTC final, but is this team ready to get there? Who is really effective apart from Bumrah and Siraj? We lack a third pacer. They are trying a lot of guys. To be honest, we don’t have a confirmed third fast bowler.” India have only managed four wins and three defeats in the current WTC cycle, a record that will not be enough if such performances continue. Uthappa also highlighted India’s struggle against SENA teams at home and said the lack of dedicated Test centers was the main reason. He said, “India as a country doesn’t have test centres. You are randomly playing tests everywhere and trying to get results in your favour. It takes away from the bigger goal.” He added that teams with fixed Test venues have a stronger home advantage. Recalling Virat Kohli’s earlier stand on the same issue, Uthappa said, “Virat used to talk about this when he was captain too, and India is losing the home advantage by playing at random venues.” With the second Test against South Africa in Guwahati looming, India need to regroup quickly. A win is essential to level the series at 11 and keep their World Test Championship campaign on track.
